What Does It Mean To Be Human?

[VacuumFlux]

First of all, I hope this is the right place to put this topic and that it has not been covered too often before. I tried to use the search function, but looking for posts about "human" gives way too many results ;-)

 

There are a lot of posts talking about God(s) and what that term may or may not mean, but I don't see so many that ask directly what being human means. I do not know how to go about developing a logically consistent moral framework of how I as a human relate to other humans without first knowing what a human is. I do not know how much of what I feel is what makes me unique, and how much is shared human experience that can tell me what other people are like.

 

As a Christian, I never had a good answer for this question. Sure, humans are made in the image of God, but God is beyond our understanding and we're supposed to be creatures, not the creator, not the judge. So how much of God is a part of us? Can we understand God by projecting onto him what we know of ourselves? I always ended up going in circles.

 

From a purely evolutionary perspective, we are extra-intelligent Great Apes (we're not monkeys; I used to be sad that I don't have a tail until I learned that we traded those in for the ability to brachiate- to raise our arms, to be able to use "monkey" bars in a way that monkeys can't) that have a sense of "morality" simply because we've evolved to be social animals so we're better at making babies when we play nice with each other.

 

But... I'm looking for a somewhat more touchy-feely answer that tells me what it's like to experience being human. I almost said what it means to be human, but I'm not sure it "means" anything (at least not in the sense of some inscrutable Being having a Perfect Plan for our life that we can't figure out but will be miserable if we don't follow). What am I? What do you think you are? Is this even a sensible question, since it's not something we can view dispassionately from the outside?

[Skeptic]

Wow. Could you have picked a more complex question to ask? I mean, it seems so simple on the surface, but when you delve deeper and really think about it, it's a highly complex question. I'm going to attempt to answer this question to the best of my ability because I have a feeling that if I don't, I'll just keep thinking about it.

 

So...what it means to be human...hmm... Well, the first word that popped into my head upon reading this post was "mortality". Having awareness of one's own mortality is definitely a human trait. I'm not sure if animals have a concept of mortality or not, but I'm guessing that they don't. Feeling a range of emotions, both positive and negative, is another human characteristic. Others might disagree with me on this point, but in my opinion, it's not just feeling emotions, but feeling them very intensely that is a critical part of the human experience. Struggling and suffering are also part of being human, and the interpretation and expression of these things are, as well. For example, human suffering can be expressed through art and literature, and interpreting these expressions and assigning one's own meaning to them is also human. Success and happiness are also human, as are the interpretations and expressions of these things. In my opinion, you have to have a mixture of both to have a complete picture. Life isn't just one or the other, as annoying as that might be. Learning to adapt, too, is human, even though animals do this, too. Humans, though, do it a bit differently than animals do. I'm not sure how to describe how. Camaraderie and companionship, too, in a deep and complete sense, not just in a "pack" sense. A deep bond between two people is most definitely human. Holding beliefs and the willingness to fight for said beliefs is also human. Knowledge and the search for knowledge is human. Wisdom, too, is human. I'm listing all of these things, and I can't help but wonder if there's something at the heart of this that I'm not getting. I'm going to have to turn this over in my head for quite awhile yet, I think, but I hope that kind of answers your question, at least.

[Legion]

In my experience, being human often means having very little understanding and a whole lot of pride.

[oddbird1963]

Being human means being uniquely equipped to ask questions like "What does it mean to be human?" "Who am I?" Being human means being able to form words - not just about "up," "down," or "over yonder." Humans can write words about "Being," "Existence," "Courage," "Morality," "love," "passion," and "singularity."

 

Being human means to have eyes, ears, a nose, nerve endings and a mind with which to take in as much of life as possible and spend a lifetime trying to express the tragedy, triumph, joy and despair that is both common to us all and unique to us as individuals.

 

Although there is much debate about the true extent of free will, being human means to have a choice. You can smash a man in the nose, or you can talk your way out of a potential conflict. You can decide to make love to every woman you can attract, or you can save yourself for that one person special enough to commit your life and devotion to (switch the gender references around until you find the one that most identifies with you).

You can take from the stranger who has lost his or her way and take advantage of their vulnerability. Or you can help them to find their way - for no other reason than the fact that you just may know what it is like to feel lost yourself.

 

I can't promise you one singular personal plan to follow to make your life saturate with meaning. Nor do i think there is an immutable, benevolent One in the heavens to imbue our lives with meaning.

 

But I do know that if you fill your life with choices - practical or impractical directions toward which to navigate your life, you will understand what it means to be human. At least the conversations you have with people as you ponder the question will make it worth asking.

 

 

P.S.

 

I think this cheesy pop song probably says it best of all: We're Born to Be Alive . What you do with that life is what makes you human.

[par4dcourse]

I just finished an interesting book on the subject: Supersense (why we believe in the unbelievable) by Dan Hood. Interesting read. Available at my library so it's likely available anywhere.

[Guest Davka]

I heard a great story on NPR the other day which deals with this question. There have been a lot of theories in the past about what separates humans from animals, and each of them has, in turn, been disproved. These include:

 

- Humans use language. Well, now it turns out that some animals do, too. And apes can learn sign language. So much for that theory.

 

- Humans philosophize about the meaning of life. It appears that some higher animals do this as well, albeit on a primitive level.

 

- Humans use tools. But now we know that chimps use tools, and even shape their tools (sticks) to better serve their purposes.

 

So what one thing do we humans do that animals don't? It sounds simple, but it's really revolutionary: We cook our food.

 

Apparently cooking food makes far more nutrients available than eating it raw. If you watch chimps in the wild, they spend most of their time chewing. Just chewing. By cooking our food, we dramatically decrease the amount of time needed for eating, and free up our time for more important stuff, like playing on Xbox and updating your Facebook.

 

Cooking food may also have forced us to lay the groundwork for tribal society. If you're going to cook your food, you have to gather it first. This means that you have a small stockpile of food that needs to be protected from being eaten by others, which requires cooperation. There is also the idea that women began cooking for men in return for protection. The whole of human civilization might be traceable to that first Cro-Magnon who accidentally dropped his deer haunch on the fire, snatched it out, took a bite and said "hey - this could use some salt!"

[Mriana]

Philosophy Bites podcast (found on iTunes) and here: http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/philosophy_bites/ Has a podcast called "Richard Norman on Humanism" which touches on this subject. You can listen directly here: Richard Norman on Humanism the podcast It's about 11 min. long (10:35 to be exact). You can download it here, if you prefer and don't have iTunes: http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/philosophy_bites/humanism/

 

Not sure if that will help or not, but I do have other sources on this topic, most are humanist sources though.