is now seldom drawn. Consequently, people have become increasingly uncertain about whether there is any difference between animals and humans. Schumacher notes that a great deal of research about humans has been conducted by studying animals. Schumacher argues that this is analogous to studying physics in the hope of understanding life. Schumacher goes on to say that much can be learned about humanity by studying minerals, plants and animals because humans have inherited those levels of being: all, that is, "except that which makes him [sic] human." Schumacher goes on to say that nothing is "more conducive to the brutalisation of the modern world" than calling humans the "naked ape". Schumacher argues that once people begin viewing humans as "animal machines" they soon begin treating them accordingly. Schumacher argues that what defines humanity are our greatest achievements, not the common run of the mill things. He argues that human beings are open-ended because of self-awareness, which as distinct from life and consciousness has nothing mechanical or automatic about it. For Schumacher "the powers of self awareness are, essentially, a limitless potentiality rather than an actuality. They have to be developed and 'realized' by each human individual if one is to become truly human, that is to say, a person." Progressions Schumacher points out that there are a number of progressions that take place between the levels. The most striking, he believes, is the movement from passivity to activity; there is a change in the origination of movement between each level: Cause (Mineral kingdom) Stimulus (Plant kingdom) Motive (Animal kingdom) Will (Humanity) One consequence of this progression is that each level of being becomes increasingly unpredictable, and it is in this sense that humans can be said to have free will. He notes increasing integration is a consequence of levels of being. A mineral can be subdivided and it remains of the same composition. Plants are more integrated; but sometimes parts of a plant can survive independently of the original plant. Animals are physically integrated; and so an appendage of an animal does not make another animal. However, while animals are highly integrated physically, they are not integrated in their consciousness. Humans, meanwhile, are not only physically integrated but have an integrated consciousness; however they are poorly integrated in terms of self-consciousness. Another interesting progression, for him, is the change in the richness of the world at each level of being.