[What defines a human being?]

My point was, Socrates wasn't the greatest person to be quoting about enjoyment in life. It has nothing to do with being a flawless human being.

 

You sure exercise a lot of excuses to religion. Religion isn't to be blamed (there are some peaceful ones), except when it teaches right from its book that dark skinned people are an evil race. Boy we sure learn from the past and evolve, because that religion is becoming one of the biggest religions in the world, infiltrating countries in Asia and vying for complete control against national religions over there because of the belief that they are the one true religion, just like almost every other religion.

 

Another mistake is to believe that humans are the only ones capable of great cruelty or great kindness. Territory disputes is common among many animals down to what we believe are the "lowest" of life forms. Like us, psychopathy and sociopathy have also been documented in animals. Our ability to manipulate the environment with fingers, coincidentally came along with the evolution for bigger brains during the time are unique traits to humans, just as bigger claws and living in extreme conditions are unique to other species. That has nothing to do with either religion or philosophy.

 

 

 

Ignorance on a subject doesn't equal absurdity . It just means you're ignorant on the matter and it only takes two seconds to Google these days out of respect for the person you're discussing with. 

 

Anyhow

 

I never said humans were only a degree smarter than other animals. Having bigger brains is one of the traits of a human and can be easily observable by us without the need for explanation by either philosophy or religion. I was just pointing out to you those traits you listed aren't unique. It's all a matter of scale. Some traits are bigger in scale in certain species and lower in others, but the traits you listed aren't unique. Just because it isn't exhibited the way we understand it, doesn't mean we're the only ones who possess it. Pain is a concept we're only starting to understand for example. We used to believe and a lot still do think only vertebrates are capable of processing pain. But we're discovering that this isn't true at all. 

 

Feeding our hunger is instinctual. How does rejecting that and saving up a snicker benefit their survival (Gorillas)? These Gorillas in captivity know they don't have to worry about going hungry over the next meal.

 

Also You know that saving up food is a measure of intelligence (planning ahead and all that) used when studying children right? How does a child saving up a snicker show rejection of instincts while in an animal it does not? 

 

 

 

No, a dolphin has never sent a probe into space, but we don't know if they wouldn't if they had evolved fingers. That's not the point. We don't identify with what we're not familiar with as humans, including other races of people. Why? Because religion said so despite their being practically superficial differences in our genetic make up. That makes our definition of humans murky. This whole concept of "what makes us human?" stemming from unscientific dogma is what led us to start looking down on others we don't deem as humans. We go to such great lengths to distinguish ourselves from one another, despite having less than a 5% difference in genetic variation with our closest common ancestor hence an alien looking at us would laugh at our arrogance. 

Goodness, this comment chain is going to get long... Also, I've taken care of and owned numerous dogs, but not a single one has ever even tried to dig for anything. I'm not sure if they've just grown lazy as a result of domestication or the dogs I've seen are weird. 

 

Back to the point at hand, I believe a definition going beyond physical traits is going to be more important than ever in the future. As we get closer and closer to developing A.I. and possibly extraterrestrial contact, your strictly physical definition will be requiring drastic revising. 

 

Also, I never said that humans need to have souls. I only said they need to be capable of loving something or someone. Yes, it is sad that small cultures* are being wiped out by the militant spread of Christianity, but such is the way of globalization and assimilation. In return for the low, low price of giving up your personal beliefs, you and your family can purchase genetically modified rice from Germany that will allow your children to grow up big and strong. I'm not sure why you have such reservations against religion, and it's not my place to ask, but you have to realize that nothing is inherently bad or good. 

 

Another thing, where in the bible (I assume that's the religion you have the most reservations against) does it teach dark skinned people have no souls? I really want a quote. Considering that Christianity is supposed to be based on loving everyone as if they were yourself, I find it hard to believe that there is such a quote. 

 

*Those Asian countries you are talking about are either Secular, Muslim, or Buddhist, by the way. The amount of Christians in these countries are minuscule compared to those. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations

[What defines a human being?]

Socrates also had a plug up his ass and got jealous over his pupil over everything.

 

Those uptight philosophers and the clergymen of old aren't interesting to me.

 

Those abilities aren't unique to humans

 

- Dogs bury bones so they can find it and chew on it later.

 

- A gorilla was given a snicker, and she saved it as a snack for another time. 

 

- Several species in the animal kingdom have passed the mirror test besides human. How do we know they don't question their existence?

 

- Sonar communication between dolphins are highly complex. We still don't understand how they communicate with each other from such long distances. Our subs sonar is no where near their complexity. Animals have their own language too. It's just not what we're used to as language since they don't form words like we do.

 

 

We think too highly of ourselves sometimes. Back then we used to think black people didn't have souls. 

 

If an advanced alien race were to see us, they wouldn't think we were much different from apes.  

It is a great thing that Humans have recorded the past, as we can learn from it and work towards a better future. There is no such thing as a flawless being, and their never will be. Sorry, evolution does not work that way. All we can hope to do is learn from those "uptight philosophers and clergymen of old", and make a better tomorrow with that knowledge.  

 

Once again, denying that black people had souls was the way white people exercised dominance over a different people. The age of exploration, Ignited by Christopher Columbus, was purely a way for European countries to gain power and wealth wrapped in a nice ribbon called "Teaching the heretics the ways of our lord". Religion wasn't to blame, the tendency of powerful people using weak people is.

 

Humans are a race of great tragedies and triumphs. We create and we destroy. We ruthlessly slaughter 10s of millions of our own flesh and blood, and give our lives to protect one another. That is what the human race is. I think the aliens you speak of would have to be pretty naive to think we weren't different from apes. 

[What defines a human being?]

See that's what you were taught and when humanity begin accepting this idea, that's when a portion of it begin veering off into a dark age for a long time.

Unfortunately, Religion gets a bad rep from the dark ages. During those times, religion was just a pretense justifying political and economical goals. Jesus never said "Go kill a bunch of non-believers". That was clergymen seeking power. Unfortunately the church is one of the most unfaithful groups known to man-kind. <- My opinion. The new pope is giving me hope.

[What defines a human being?]

I seriously think where went wrong with this whole human thing is when we tried to get philosophical about it and then brought in religion to define it. 

 

Life would be easier if we took the Wikipedia example.

But, humans aren't simply physical. There's a whole other side to intelligent life that can't be disregarded when classifying something as "Human".

[Jazz, Swing, Ragtime, and the Early 20th Century]

Personally, I love Gustav Holst and Gershwin. Gershwin might be more what this thread is looking for. Just look up "Rhapsody in blue" or "American in Paris".

[What defines a human being?]

I'm afraid that definition would make me inhuman. I always expect something in return when I express love or affection, even if I know I'm not entitled to it. Still, an interesting concept. Thanks for spending your time to share it.

I guess I should clarify "anything in return". That's the moral I hold myself to, not what I hold others to. I guess it's just genuine love that does it for me. If it feels sadness, grief, happiness, or especially love, its human.

I think it's pretty difficult to pinpoint exactly what defines a human(in a philosophical sense), simply because we've never really encountered anything which we'd have a hard time classifying as either human or non-human, so we've never had to come up with a strict definition. For example, would an intelligent alien be human and deserve human rights? What about an artificial intelligence?

If it has feelings, I don't care what it is. Whether it's a carbon-based life form means very little to me. It's human.

[What defines a human being?]

I've talked to a minor sociopath before, and I don't believe he's any less human than I am. All human beings have idiosyncrasies and faults, however, some are just exaggerated.

That's a unicorn rarity level creature. If you're using that to define a human then humans are very endangered species.

I don't think so. I think just about everyone is capable of it, under the right conditions.

[What defines a human being?]

What distinguishes a human from an animal, in my eye, is their resistance to basic animal instincts. i.e. "Seven Deadly Sins". If a person goes about their day trying their best to live a fulfilling life and occasionally helps another person along the way, then that is human. Also, a major component to my definition is the ability to give love, not receive. If anything can give affection and love without expecting anything in return, that is human.