... Or rather, what makes a human being a human being? Which criteria must we fulfill?
And (for once) I'm not talking about the biological stuff - the species definition, because really this could be asked for individuals of any other species, be it a greyhound or a dung beatle.
I realize that this is an insane question, but if you chop up a human being... Can you then call it a human being? I mean, if you blend an orange, is that still an orange? What if you just divide it in 8? What if you divide a human into two parts? Two equally large parts? A head from the rest of the body? An arm from the rest??
A human being who has lost both legs and both arms in war is still a human... Is there such a thing as half a human being? Certainly there is such a thing as half an orange... But an orange doesn't die when you divide it. A human being would. So is it a matter of being alive? Is a dead person no longer a human being? It isn't really a person, I guess, but is it not still a human? A human body perhaps, but not a human BEING??
Maybe you have to be alive in order to be a '' being''? Rene Descartes would probably have said so... Because you cannot think if you are dead. Or can you somehow ''be'' even though you are dead? I mean, you still exist...
I really have no idea why I'm wondering about this... And actually writing it down - on my phone, in bed, before going to sleep... And then posting it...
I just hope I don't have nightmares about chopped human beings!
Good night!
For me being a human being would be best described by having a soul (now someone should define "soul"). On the other hand, would a person kissed by a Dementor be still a person?
ReplyDeleteYeah that's a good question! Would you be considered a person after a dementor's kiss?
ReplyDeleteIn the"our" world, however, I think the term 'soul' is pretty differently perceived and understood from individual to individual.
I myself am probably such a skeptic that I don't believe in anything like a soul. I'm probably more of a reductionist than I care to admit.
But yeah, depending on the definition of 'soul', it could definitely play a part in determining whether someone is human or not...
* Ignore the 'the' in the third line... :)
ReplyDeletei'd have to agree- i think the soul is the key element in understanding what a true "human being" is. when a person being is split into pieces, those pieces are part of a body, but they are no long the person themselves. even when the body is still whole, but the person is dead, for me at least, it is no longer a being, it is the body, the vessel that once carried that being. but without the soul, without the life essence, it is nothing but a lump of useless mass. and depending on your stance on afterlife, that being may or may not continue on once it's left it's human body, and it may or may not recede there in a new, glorious body.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that makes sense... I also find it interesting, the whole thing about what people mean with the word "soul". Is it even possible to define it? And who has a soul? Many would probably say that dogs have souls, but not plants even though they are alive. Perhaps the brain is important for the soul definition? Yeah that's really interesting to me (maybe just because understand the concept of a soul very well). But I guess it really makes a lot of sense if you believe in a god - or something else that involves the possibility of an afterlife - 'cause then the soul must be the "part" that lives on. I never thought about that.
ReplyDelete