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What Defines Humans

calamity said:
This subject is always worth philosophical discussion. What exactly separates humans from the rest of the planet, both now and in the past?

At one time, I thought the easy answer was fire. Only humans know how to manipulate fire. And, when it came to separating Homo Sapiens Sapiens From Homo Erectus or Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis, it was how HSS used fire more creatively than the others. In other words, HSS engineered with fire, while the others maybe figured out how to cook with it, but that's about it.

All that said. I find that one other factor, perhaps a skill that is even bigger than fire is language. To be human is to master language. Having language is a huge advantage. It's perhaps the biggest advantage HSS had over anyone out there. Language makes us human? Maybe.

A third biggie is cognitive thought; specifically the ability to think ahead. Understanding cause and effect was paramount to our survival as a species back when we were both slower and weaker than our rivals. How do you beat a faster, stronger thinking upright primate? You out-think him by being more clever and cunning than it can be. That's how.

So, is it our ability to form complex thoughts; the capability to develop strategies by manipulating our environment to more closely suit idealized concepts that makes us human? Maybe it's all three.
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A better question is; why do we have to be set apart from other Earth species?

My answer to your question though, is that nothing sets us apart from other animals. Nothing at all really, sure we have some awesome attributes but so do other animals. Birds can fly and not only fly but do it at an early age. If humans could fly at an early age, we would have gone extinct a long time ago. And that's even accounting for the evolutionary changes necessary to fly.
 
Free will, the ability to think creatively and love, existentialism; also some less favourable traits like killing for sport rather than food, murder and emotionally driven crimes, manipulation of nature on a massive scale (this can have positive, negative and neutral consequences).

Also our ability to end all ecosystems, unlike other apex predators who could only really do harm to their specific niche if their numbers got out of hand.

The notion that only humans are self-conscious is laughable, and is perpetuated by those who have never spent time in nature observing other living creatures. Just because other animals have an intelligence or cognitive process that's different than ours does not mean they aren't self-conscious. Our tests for consciousness always relate to the human standard which is incredibly egocentric -- another trait that's unique to humanity.

On the whole, it is the human ego which defines humans. I think we are the first animal on this planet to have a complex ego.
 
calamity said:
This subject is always worth philosophical discussion. What exactly separates humans from the rest of the planet, both now and in the past?

At one time, I thought the easy answer was fire. Only humans know how to manipulate fire. And, when it came to separating Homo Sapiens Sapiens From Homo Erectus or Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis, it was how HSS used fire more creatively than the others. In other words, HSS engineered with fire, while the others maybe figured out how to cook with it, but that's about it.

All that said. I find that one other factor, perhaps a skill that is even bigger than fire is language. To be human is to master language. Having language is a huge advantage. It's perhaps the biggest advantage HSS had over anyone out there. Language makes us human? Maybe.

A third biggie is cognitive thought; specifically the ability to think ahead. Understanding cause and effect was paramount to our survival as a species back when we were both slower and weaker than our rivals. How do you beat a faster, stronger thinking upright primate? You out-think him by being more clever and cunning than it can be. That's how.

So, is it our ability to form complex thoughts; the capability to develop strategies by manipulating our environment to more closely suit idealized concepts that makes us human? Maybe it's all three.
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Humans are made in God's image with the ability to communicate with God with reason, logic, and understanding.
 
marke said:
Humans are made in God's image with the ability to communicate with God with reason, logic, and understanding.
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First things first: prove "god" even exists.
 
marke said:
That is not what is first. You first prove you are not going to face God after you die.
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I can't prove I'm going to face someone whom you can't prove exists. Please make sense from this point forward :)
 
Wayne Jr said:
First things first: prove "god" even exists.
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If you demand proof from God before believing God then you will not be saved from God's coming wrathful judgments upon unbelievers.
 
Wayne Jr said:
I can't prove I'm going to face someone whom you can't prove exists. Please make sense from this point forward :)
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If you have a belligerence towards God then don't worry about the fact that you can prove nothing about what will happen to you after you die. Just do whatever you want and believe whatever you want and you will learn about the hereafter once you get there.
 
marke said:
If you have a belligerence towards God then don't worry about the fact that you can prove nothing about what will happen to you after you die. Just do whatever you want and believe whatever you want and you will learn about the hereafter once you get there.
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No one can learn anything when they are dead. ANd do not comeback with some preaching, I've read the bible I was not impressed with it. In fact it seemed very primitive and like a foreign culture to me. Probably because it is some other cultures beliefs written a very long time ago in a much more primitive time.
 
FreedomFromAll said:
No one can learn anything when they are dead. ANd do not comeback with some preaching, I've read the bible I was not impressed with it. In fact it seemed very primitive and like a foreign culture to me. Probably because it is some other cultures beliefs written a very long time ago in a much more primitive time.
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Like you, I reject theological nonsense and philosophical foolishness, but, unlike you, I do not boldly declare as irrefutable truth what nobody can possibly know which is the assumption that life ends at death.
 
marke said:
Like you, I reject theological nonsense and philosophical foolishness, but, unlike you, I do not boldly declare as irrefutable truth what nobody can possibly know which is the assumption that life ends at death.
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It is not an assumption that life ends with death. But go ahead and explain to me how a dead object can be alive? Why even use the word dead, if you do not believe that anything dies (or at least humans)?

The rational around people believing that dead things do not die is purely the mental rejection of an end of their own own life. For many the reality of death is too much to take, so they easily make the excuse that perhaps there is an afterlife. But notice that the word afterlife asserts still that life is over. SO the assertion of an afterlife does not dispute death. Instead the assertion of an afterlife is centered on magical thinking. Asserting that I cannot know that there is not an afterlife is logically meaningless since you cannot know that an afterlife is even possible, much less exists.

But in the end when we die, our brains die, so there is no organ alive that can retain knowledge of what happened after said brain died. Instead this assumes a magical thing called an soul. And a soul is indeed theological nonsense.
 
FreedomFromAll said:
It is not an assumption that life ends with death. But go ahead and explain to me how a dead object can be alive? Why even use the word dead, if you do not believe that anything dies (or at least humans)?

The rational around people believing that dead things do not die is purely the mental rejection of an end of their own own life. For many the reality of death is too much to take, so they easily make the excuse that perhaps there is an afterlife. But notice that the word afterlife asserts still that life is over. SO the assertion of an afterlife does not dispute death. Instead the assertion of an afterlife is centered on magical thinking. Asserting that I cannot know that there is not an afterlife is logically meaningless since you cannot know that an afterlife is even possible, much less exists.

But in the end when we die, our brains die, so there is no organ alive that can retain knowledge of what happened after said brain died. Instead this assumes a magical thing called an soul. And a soul is indeed theological nonsense.
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Atheists demonstrate ignorance of the spiritual nature of the human soul. The soul does not die when the physical body dies.
 
marke said:
Atheists demonstrate ignorance of the spiritual nature of the human soul. The soul does not die when the physical body dies.
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There is no soul.
 
marke said:
Atheists demonstrate ignorance of the spiritual nature of the human soul. The soul does not die when the physical body dies.
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Prove it.
 
marke said:
No need to prove facts. They will be proven soon enough.
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That's possibly the dumbest thing I've ever read anyone type on purpose.
 
Wayne Jr said:
That's possibly the dumbest thing I've ever read anyone type on purpose.
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To the trained Darwinist devotee, science is not about proof because evolution nonsense cannot be proven. Nevertheless, God will reveal Himself to all men soon enough and put to silence the ignorance of Darwinist false science speculatism.
 
marke said:
Atheists demonstrate ignorance of the spiritual nature of the human soul. The soul does not die when the physical body dies.
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It is your arrogance that assumes ignorance by anyone who disbelieves.

At any rate the philosophy forum is not the place for you to preach about souls and attack non-believers. https://www.debatepolitics.com/philosophy/306892-philosophy-forum.html

"Purpose
- A place to discuss philosophical matters free from those relying on faith in the divine, scripture, or other religious basis.

Rule Set
- Threads and posts that are critical of disbelief, or are focused on attacking religion/spirituality, are not allowed.
- Posts/threads from a religious basis, or deemed overly antagonistic towards non-belief, will be considered “trolling”."
 
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