What Does it Mean to be Human?

Vikas Beniwal considers some philosophers' core understandings.

- Vikas Beniwal

When someone asks 'Who are you?', it's tempting to respond with labels, like 'Asian', 'male', 'vegetarian', or 'student'. These tags are easy to understand, and help others quickly identify us. But such labels only scratch the surface. They tell us about general physical traits, societal roles, or personal choices, but they don't really dive into the deeper question: What does it mean to be you? Or in general, What does it really mean to be human? Are we just organisms, or is there something more – like a soul, or some other deep basis of our existence? Or are we defined by the relationships we build, our actions, or our potential? Understanding what it means to be human influences how we treat ourselves and others, how we structure society, and how we interact with emerging technologies like AI. This article will take a look at some of the more prominent aspects of being human by outlining key arguments from various philosophers.

Are We More Than Bodies?

One of the big questions about human nature is whether we're purely physical beings or whether there's something immaterial that makes us who we are.

Imagine eating a ripe mango. You perceive its yellow color and taste its sweetness through the subjective experiences of 'seeing yellow' and 'tasting sweetness'. These and other experiences provide fuel for what philosophers since David Chalmers call 'the hard problem of consciousness'. This asks, 'How and why do brain processes produce subjective experiences?' – rather than merely unexperienced mechanical/bodily reactions to stimuli.