The question of what makes a human being a human being and not an animal has been a headache for generations of researchers and philosophers. The answer to that question also changes over time. Only recently were people from Africa not considered human. Today, some ape species are included in the group of hominids. Optimistic trend watchers see the gap between humans and animals eventually becoming even narrower. And that this is actually already the case, you can see in pet shops. In the clothes department.
Once upon a time, we humans were under the impression that we were the crown of creation. Since Darwin, there is little left of that, and that made us humble. Man would not be man if he did not feverishly search for another difference. Descartes had already shouted centuries earlier that the difference lay in our consciousness. 'Cogito ergo sum'. I think therefore I exist. Because I think, I exist. Thinking therefore ensures existence. With all due respect to Rene Descartes, it is all nonsense.
In order to find the answer to the question of what makes humans human, the focus was long on social characteristics. Language, culture, advanced communication, use of tools. This answer was lost when science clearly demonstrated that other animal species also use these skills. Chimpanzees can learn human sign language. If necessary, they use tools. Homo sapiens is at most more advanced in the execution. Is that where it lies?
In his book 'So you think you're human?', historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto provides a fascinating insight into the history of being human. According to the author, we belong to the category 'human' because we draw the boundaries ourselves. If there is one truly distinguishing characteristic, Fernandez-Armesto sneers, it is the desire of humans to see themselves as better beings. The search for proof that we are better beings makes us human. And at the same time is doomed to failure. The concept of 'human' changes over time and, moreover, cannot be scientifically pinned down. Apart from the question that intrigues us most: are we really better beings?
And yet we continue to search, now with the focus on our gene pool. Not so long ago, researchers thought that a human being had to have at least 100,000 genes. After all, a mouse needs 25,000 genes to be just a mouse. We humans, the better beings, would certainly have many more. When the human genome map was ready, the counter also stopped around 25,000 and humanity was once again one illusion poorer. What makes us unique is not in a number.
The philosopher Erich Fromm (1900-1980) described being human as follows:
βWhat is the difference between man and the animal? Not his upright posture. That was already present in the apes long before the brain began to develop. Nor the use of tools. Lower animals also use something of tools. It is something entirely new, something previously unknown: self-consciousness. Of course animals also have a consciousness. They are conscious of things. They know that this is a tree and that there is a stone. But when man came to earth he had a new consciousness, a consciousness of himself. He knew that he existed and that he too was something else. Something different from a tree or a dog. Something different even from other people. He became aware of himself and was aware that he was thinking and feeling.
As far as we know, there is nothing like it in the animal world. That is the defining characteristic that makes humans human.β