What makes us human?

Humanity is a species. Elephants may be superior morally, ethically and intellectually, but that cannot make them human. They are elephants.

Our biology.

Our infinite capacity for foolhardiness. We’re not very risk-averse. Hence global warming.

our hearts over logic and practicality

@fundevogel asked: But what element or combination of elements do you think are prerequisites for human-ness? If there’s more to it than just biology where do you draw the line?

Myself, I don’t see the need for extending the meaning of “human” to include anything more than their biological definitions. What purpose would that serve?

@ninjacolin Regardless of the practicality it is a common practice.

The expression, “Man’s inhumanity towards man”, has no coherent meaning without a broader definition than the scientific one.

While I don’t think anyone will argue a scientific definition of humanity isn’t completely valid, I think indivuals tend to have highly individual perspectives regarding the nature of humanity. That’s what I’m interested in and how they fit or don’t fit with other concepts of humanity.

I see what you’re saying. “Sympathy” and “Innovation” seem to be a part of what is often considered “humane.”

Somehow I would even consider “Common Sense” an attribute typically associated with being “human” and lacking from things considered “non-human.”

In my opinion, “humanity” is an emergent property. Dogs display linguistic and social awareness. Chimps display both those and tool-making awareness. Dolphins form complex social groups.

We are the only species that take all those properties together and spin them into Dostoyevsky, Da Vinci, Wittgenstein and Bach.

The Musical Question

Fact from fiction, truth from diction. the basic element that makes humans what we are and above the animals is sentience, with that comes logic, compasion, love, and yes, hate. when a lion gets old of a sick, old, or baby wildebeest is doesn’t feel sorry for it, or its parents, it did not kill because it hated, it was just food, the same as when a shark gets a sea lion. Life and death is just a part of day to day life, there is no remorse for the petator and no mercy for the prey.

We our a species like any other, just a more destructive one.

We’re the only species that can post on YouTube. So far.

Our mistakes. To err is human…

Our ability to question our own existence. No other animal can. Or has proven to anyway.

@Hypocrisy_Central I don’t see evidence that sentience begets emotion. I see plenty of evidence of emotion in non sentient animals (assuming I’m using “sentience” in the same way you are). But certainly the ability to conceptualize and rationalize emotion is significant.

The ability to reason

@Adagio. To err is human….but to blame someone else shows management potential.

Ah… From a very scientific standpoint, I’d point to genetics. Absolutely. We are separated from other species simply by being our own species.

However to follow up on what designer_from_AB said… Our ability to reason is incredibly important in defining what makes human beings very unique.

I am following Aristotle’s logic for the following statements. We, as human beings, find ourselves in an interesting position. We have all the faculties that animals have… All the faculties that plants have… And above that, we have the ability to rationalize things. So it is our position, then, to be rational animals. We have both emotions and the ability to reason. And that is what makes us human. In fact, that’s what it is to BE human. To be a rational animal.

I think humans aren’t so different from other animals… I think we got the lucky when evolution handed us oposable thumbs….
I think our biggest difference from other animals is our disatisfaction. We wanted to find ways to warm ourselves in the cold—clothes and fire. We wanted to find ways to hunt better—weapons and tools. We wanted to find ways of remembering what we learned—writing our language down. We wanted to keep finding new places to live, and so covered the globe.
We keep wanting and so we keep creating, we keep discovering. Not that other animals don’t want, too, don’t invent, too. Other species have languages, and use tools, like others said above. But for some reason, for most humans, that wasn’t enough. It still isn’t enough. We’re still searching.

We have a soul which tells us the difference between right and wrong. Also, no other creature on this earth has the reasoning abilities we have. We can override our instinct and have free will in how we live our lives. We are also very self aware of ourself and our surroundings and have complex communication skills through various languages and syntax.

The capability for long-term planning (for numerous issues). Animals can’t do this.

Not to mention, human beings make pie. I’ve never seen a cat make an apple pie. Or pecan for that matter. This trait in itself is enough to set human beings apart for me.

@jerikao LOL!!! cats making apple pies.. that would be awesome

@Jerikao But not all humans make pie. Do non-pie-making humans fall short of being truly human?

@fundevogel: It depends, do they make other tasty treats? ;)

Diogenis(Διογενης) was searching for humans using his lamp in the middle of the day and everyone thought he was crazy. The greek word for human is “anthropos” (άνθρωπος) which means “the one who looks at the sky”

Sounds like he may have been the first dadaist.

haha yesterday i attended a lecture about the dadaists and before that i didn’t know about their existance. How funny this comes up now

They were a kooky bunch. I imagine encountering them would be like spotting a rare tropical bird on the subway. It’s unexpected, whimisical and refreshing, but perhaps not so well adapted to its environment.

Afterall, look what dadaism did to Radiohead’s music. Not that I’m complaining.

I didn’t know they were into dada.

Our ability to reason, to be of two minds, a conscious and a subconscious.