I know this is kind of sudden, but please, answer the upcoming question. It will only take a moment of your time.
What does it mean to be human?
Not biologically. That's easy. Two legs, bipedal, frontal cortex, opposable thumbs, and just enough hubris to pretend we're above the animals that raised us.
But deeper than that.
What is the essence of being human? Is it the ability to feel? To act irrationally in the face of logic? To weep for strangers in a war they'll never understand? Is it the ability to think, to reason, to construct complex ideas that no other creature on this planet can conceive?
Descartes once claimed, "Cogito, ergo sum" translating to "I think, therefore I am."
Perhaps it is our consciousness, the awareness of self, that separates us from beasts. But then, what of those who lack awareness, those who drift in the void of unconsciousness? Are they any less human?
Perhaps it is our emotions, our capacity to feel joy, sorrow, love, and hatred that defines us. Yet emotions, too, can betray us. They can be manipulated, dulled, even erased entirely. A human devoid of feeling—are they still human? Or do they become something less, something monstrous?
Some might say it is morality that distinguishes humanity, our capacity to discern right from wrong.
Dostoevsky wrote, "Without God, all things are permitted."
Is it the framework of morality, of laws and ethics, that holds our humanity intact? But laws change, morality shifts. What is right today may be wrong tomorrow. If humanity itself is so malleable, can it truly be defined by morality?
Then there is Nietzsche, who declared, "Man is something that shall be overcome."
Is humanity not a fixed state, but rather an endless progression, a perpetual striving toward something greater? If so, then what happens to those who cease to strive, who are content to remain as they are? Are they still human, or do they stagnate, falling behind the tide of evolution?
Others claim it is our connections that make us human—the bonds we share with others, the relationships that anchor us. Love, friendship, family. These are the threads that weave the tapestry of humanity. But when those threads fray, when they break, does the tapestry unravel?
Sartre believed, "Hell is other people."
If our connections define us, yet bring us suffering, are they truly the foundation of humanity—or its greatest flaw?
And then there is the matter of our physical form. A human body, composed of flesh, blood, and bone. The very vessel of life. Yet, as science advances, as limbs are replaced by metal and plastic by artificial means, the line between human and machine blurs.
Are we our bodies, or something more?
Perhaps it is our very ability to choose that defines us. The freedom to act, to make decisions, to shape our own destiny, however small that destiny may be. We are not bound by instinct alone; we possess a will that can defy even the most powerful of biological urges.
But if our choices are what make us human, what of those who are born into circumstances that offer no choice at all? What of those who are manipulated by others, their lives and decisions dictated by forces beyond their control? Are they stripped of their humanity, or do they find a different kind of freedom in resistance, in the quiet rebellion of the spirit?
The philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that morality is rooted in a sense of duty, in our capacity to act according to a universal moral law. The "categorical imperative" suggests we should only act in ways we would want to be a universal rule for all.
Yet, to be human is also to be selfish, to act out of self-interest, to prioritize our own survival and desires above all else. Is our humanity, then, a constant battle between our noble duty and our baser instincts? A struggle between the self we want to be and the self we are?
Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, theorized that our core essence is the search for meaning, a purpose that gives our suffering and existence value. He wrote, "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
Is the search for meaning our most fundamental human drive? Is it our ability to find hope in despair, to find purpose even in the most meaningless of lives, that makes us human? Or is this a burden, a self-imposed prison that forces us to justify our existence when perhaps there is no meaning at all?
To be human is to be aware of our own mortality. We are the only creatures on this planet who know that one day, we will die. This awareness shapes everything we do. It drives us to create, to love, to leave a legacy—to leave something behind that will outlast our own brief lives.
But this awareness also brings with it a profound sense of anxiety and dread. It forces us to confront the void, the end of all things. It is the source of all our fears, all our anxieties. Is our humanity, then, a curse? A consciousness that is too heavy to bear, a mind that is constantly at war with itself?
The French philosopher Albert Camus, grappling with this very question, proposed the philosophy of the absurd. He argued that the universe is indifferent to our existence, that there is no inherent meaning to be found. But instead of despairing, he suggested that we should embrace this absurdity. He believed that the only way to be truly free is to live passionately, to live in defiance of a meaningless universe.
As he put it, "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
Perhaps the essence of being human is not to find a definitive answer to the question of what it means to be human. Perhaps it is the asking itself. The endless, relentless pursuit of a truth we may never find. It is in this struggle, this striving, this rebellion against the void, that we find our true humanity.
So I ask again, what does it mean to be human?
[A/N: This won't be updated for a while, I came up with the idea randomly and had to lay claim to it long before someone else made something like it. That is all. I wil;l be planning the Future Chapters.]