You try to speak." (p. 2) Pay closer attention to the last line, 'you try to speak'. By saying that McGinn agrees that man's first primary instinct is to "say something." In other words, he wants to express himself because now he is no longer in a vegetative state. Comparing this with Heidegger's claim, we find that his views were on the same lines. He also felt that expression was the key to being human. He writes clearly that 'speaking is what basically constitutes human Dasein" (17-18). Interestingly, it must be noted that by speaking he doesn't mean saying any gibberish. Instead what he meant was based on the Greek word Sprechen and logos. Man expressing himself coherently is a man with human characteristics. In other words, he must speak logically or his expression should contain logos for him to be called a human. He says that logos, 'is thus the fundamental determination of the being of humans as such'. (p. 18)

He says that 'logos' is commonly understood as reason, judgment and concept. McGinn also feels that for a person to be considered human, he must be a hearing, speaking, feeling human being. McGinn however doesn't focus on speaking alone. He does understand that man needs to express himself but takes into account other senses as well in his definition of 'human being'. Heidegger being more politically driven gave greater significance to expression for he knew that this is how a person finds his place in the world. Though there may be differences in the two concepts, the fundamental premise remains the same i.e. A man with consciousness and the ability to express himself coherently is called a human being.