The German philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945) wrote in his most famous work, Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, that “man, for many philosophers both ancient and modern, is the "representational animal," homo symbolicum [sic], the creature whose distinctive character is the creation and manipulation of signs—things that stand for or take the place of something else."
On attributes that distinguish humans
The German philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945) wrote in his most famous work, Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, that “man, for many philosophers both ancient and modern, is the "representational animal," homo symbolicum [sic], the creature whose distinctive character is the creation and manipulation of signs—things that stand for or take the place of something else."