WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
Introduction
Humans share 98% of their genetic makeup with Chimpanzees, yet they portray a unique phenotype. Explanations from various disciplines have been advanced to answer the question on what it means to be human. Historian claims an animal is human if it’s a member of the evolutionary group Homo sapiens. Biologists define humans as possessing particular senior genes or having big brains than others (Catalano Para 3). Theologians explain human as the soul. According to their view, they separate the soul (mind) of the human form the body. Philosophers differ widely in their conception of this question. Some say it’s futile to define human from non-human while others define a human as possessing various characteristics and abilities.
Background study
This paper focuses on the philosophy discipline and the different philosophical explanations on what it means to be human. Some try to argue that a human is not a person while others agree that a human and a person are one and the same thing. The paper scrutinizes the philosophers take on the question and how their sophisticated understanding and explanation is advanced in straightforward and definite language. They all seek to expound on this thesis statement “what does it mean to be human” The complexity of the explanation extends over time as Nazi’s considered Jews as non-humans (Lavanda, Emilly and Cynthia 45). So did the Spaniard to the natives of the Caribbean island and the North Americans to the African slaves.

Human being versus human person
Is every human being a human person and is every human person a human being? This is a subjective, complex question. Most philosophers hold that a human being is inclined towards the evolutionary path while a human person is possessive of the attributes that lead to a complex definition. Other scholars maintain that a human being is the same as a human person.
The philosophy of human person began way long when philosophical methods were in an application when finding the solution to the mystery of human existence. According to Sir Karl Raimund- a British philosopher a human person exists in three distinct forms at the same time namely; the external physical world of nature, the internal world of ideas and the social world (Lavanda, Emilly and Cynthia 58). The outer world of nature merely symbolizes the surrounding natural environment and the natural sciences. The internal world of thoughts, feelings, emotions and the ideas and the social world take into account the person’s philosophy jurisdiction. The human person existence is for a cause. Their lives, decisions, and responses are firmly controlled by these three words of physical, internal and social worlds.
Meaning and purpose
An unexamined life is not worth living. These are the words of the great philosopher –Socrates. He meant that life has to have a meaning and a cause for one life. If one is not critical, enough he will live an empty and careless life. The meaning and the purpose of life is solely determined and understood by the one who is living that life (Shank and Robert 15). For instance, you cannot draw conclusions on someone life, or try to influence them if they are comfortable with the way they are and their meaning in life is clear to them. Socrates further stressed that no a human person’s mind is a “tabula rasa” and that you should not merely rule out someone as not thinking.
“Tabula rasa” mean hollow, empty and void. Socrates countered the thinking of the existence of a tabular rasa mind. He stressed that everybody is important and should be allowed a chance to express their views regardless of whether they are children or grown up human beings.
Socrates maxims “know they self” advances that the journey to liberation is through self-realization. One must study himself/herself better to liberate his/her mind.
The statement that “when one lives for others, he lives for himself” is countered in this case though at the same time backed up. When one can analyze and understand himself better he makes a better society ((Shank and Robert 25).This is because he can understand the society way better in a new way. The following tools help in the analysis of the meaning and purpose; Rationalism and Skepticism, and Critical and creative thinking.
 Rationalism and Skepticism
Rationalism is a deductive reasoning tool. Rationalist believes in the logical reasoning as opposed to the imprinted tabula rasa. The advance an argument that experiences in themselves do not bring knowledge and that some of this knowledge is innate. God created us with this knowledge ((Buford 26). Skepticism also referred to as Pyrrhonism or Pyrrhonic skepticism is a philosophical argument that refrains people from making conclusions. It then implies there is an absence of certainty and that one should very caution when arriving at a finding. It encourages the systematic approach to research and in the academic field in determining any factors or results.
 Critical and creative thinking
Critical thinking is the intellectual tool of analysis used for making decisions. This kind of thinking involves making independent judgments after a thorough study an analysis of the available facts (Lavenda, Emily and Cynthia 56). Critical thinking does not necessary need one to have a good memory but a high level of conceptualizing and contextualizing and undisputed ability to make decisions. Creative thinking implies a fresh way of looking at the problem. The ideas can be generated through brainstorming or one quietly sitting down and mapping the solutions.
Value of life
Life itself has a value attached to it. For instance, if one attempts to commit suicide but fails he is taken to a court of law where he is tried for demeaning the value of life. Ironically when found guilty he is charged though he was trying to take his life (Frankl 42). When any sane human person reaches a point of committing suicide, he equates his life to death and at that point prefers death to life. To the person committing suicide, death is more glorious, more attracting than life. According to Frankl in his book “man’s search for meaning” he explains how different prisoners attach different value to life. Viktor observed that the inmates who are the first to lose hope for the future assigned a very little value for their lives and consequently they were the first to die. He stresses that life has a low meaning during sleekness and even in death. In these two events, the value of life is at the most minimum point.
Conclusion
To be a human person is not an accumulation that one can do, and animals are not able to. It’s all about possessing a set of values that dictates the life of a human person (Buford 33).
Logical reasoning and autonomous are vital tools that assist a human in making decisions and solving problems. It is imperative to note that when a human person lives for others, he lives for himself too. Examining one’s life to ascertain the worthiness to living is very importance as proper adjustments are made. To be human is to have a purpose in life and to live for a cause. Loss of hope and self-worth leads to a person devaluing his/her life and finally early physical death.
Works cited
Buford, Thomas. Know Thyself: An Essay in Social Personalism. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, 2011. Print.
Catalano, George. “What does it mean to be human?” Ethics in Biology, Engineering and Medicine: An International Journal 3.1-3 (2012).
Frankl, Viktor. Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006. Print.
Lavenda, Robert, Emily, Schultz, and Cynthia Zutter. Anthropology: What Does It Mean to Be Human? 2016. Print
Schank, Roger, and Robert, Abelson. Scripts, plans, goals, and understanding: An inquiry into human knowledge structures. Psychology Press, 2013.