Definition of a human

[Phlegmak]

I've asked this question before and never got good answers. I don't know if I asked it on this forum before.

What is the definition of a human being? Without a definition, how do you know you're human? I'm being completely serious.

Before some goober posts a Wikipedia or Dictionary.com link, here they are:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/human
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human

The Wikipedia article is very detailed. I'm going to have to read it.

The caption under the two girls is genius: "Two young human girls" as if they're saying, "This is what human girls look like."

 

[skadistic]

Those two young girls I think come from an old eppy still shot of "Our Gang" or the "Little Rascals".

A human is a relitivly hairless primate (compaired to other primates) that walk upright and has a vast arry of tolls that it can use with skill.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Definition of a human

Freakish apes driven insane by self awareness.

 

[El_Machinae]

Whatever definition you make can become very muddied when we look at what's possible with biology.

 

[warpus]

Female Human - anyone warpus can breed with and produce unsterile offspring with, assuming fertile age and lack of medical complications that would prevent conception.

 

[Raisin Bran]

Opposable thumb, capable of using tools, standing on 2 legs and capable of waging wars without reason.

my definition

 

[Bill3000]

A member of the species homo sapiens. Duh.

 

[puglover]

Whatever is born of a human?

 

[warpus]

Whatever is born of a human?

Unless it's Katie Holmes doing the birthing.

 

[Phlegmak]

Whatever is born of a human?

One day, it'll be possible to use humans as hosts for other species. So that one fails.

I'm not addressing the other posts in this thread since they're just jokes.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

I wasnt kidding.

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Are you looking for a technical/scientific definiton? If so, you already have it.

For a more philosophical definition of what we are and how we exist, I would just say "I think, therefore I am."

 

[Ayatollah So]

Without a definition, how do you know you're human? I'm being completely serious.

As the Justice famously remarked, just because you can't define something doesn't keep you from knowing it when you see it. But don't take his or my word for it, there are mountains of cognitive science research demonstrating that our abilities to recognize instances far outstrip our explicit knowledge of definitions and rules. Indeed it's enough to make you wonder if there are any definitions or rules that can be stated in a simple formula.

 

[CartesianFart]

For a more philosophical definition of what we are and how we exist, I would just say "I think, therefore I am."

Of course days of Descartes is gone which now become something of "I think,therefore i am not."

Here is what make a person,a human,or just downright a "human being."A quote from Jaques Lacan:In other words, the man who is born into existence deals first with language; this is a given. He is even caught in it before his birth.

 

[Masquerouge]

The way I see it, since so far only humans give definitions to things, humans are what humans decide them to be.

Less philosophically, a human is that which can breed and have offspring with another human.
(yes, it's theorically possible to build an artificial robot that could reprocude with a human, but in that case I say it's a human.)

 

[ThePhysicist]

Is a range of genetic configurations not sufficient? I don't understand why the question is so difficult. Simply define DNA and how it functions, then define humans as a certain set of DNA. Then, you have defined a human.(?)

 

[Birdjaguar]

A pervasive combination of quarks and leptons.

 

[BasketCase]

There is no good answer. In fact, sometimes it changes.

Most of the time, we humans will give an answer that involves our intelligence or some such. Yet, curiously, a lot of people referred to Baby Theresa and Terry Schiavo as human with no hesitation.

 

[ybbor]

one who can appreciate art

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

There may be no ultimate concrete definition that will satisfy us. With advances in biology there may be things that cannot definitely be labelled as human or not human. This is especially true if we ever split off into one or more daughter species.

one who can appreciate art

But I hate art! . . .