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What makes us more human?
speech (>literature!); free exchange / trade of information, ideas, feelings, goods, services.(dialogue
& dialectic)
rights; legal status and protection by law
curiosity < humility, generosity
receptivity:
compassion / sympathy /
empathy
giving
benefit of doubt / humility
tolerance of ambiguity, conflicting ideas
hybridity;
evolving, or intersectional identities (contrast "absolute or essential
identities" below)
belonging / identity / security / stability ("home"; "tribe")
work,
labor (esp. toward shared goals?)
desire,
yearning for more (progress?) +
restraint?
family
(though family takes many forms)
childhood,
adolescence as time of wonder, possibility, insecurity, etc.
Humans are
shaped and conditioned but not totally imprisoned by environment and
history. (Talent may be universally distributed, but opportunity isn't.)
OR (AND?)
individuals freely choose who or what they will be, overcoming all
limitations through willpower, talent, and luck--but can become a
rationale for dominance and dehumanization of others or social context.
In religious terms, "fate vs. free will" (another
dialectic)
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What makes us less human? (Really these
traits are "all too human" but can frustrate or obstruct optimal human
development?) (synonym: dehumanization)
Dividing to us and them, victims & oppressors, good guys and bad guys,
self and other,
subject and object.
(Such classifications
appear hard-wired in human brain but can be overcome by education and mixed
environments.)
Treating someone else as less human makes me less human. (dehumanization)
objectification: OED 2. The demotion or
degrading of a person or class of people (esp. women) to the status of a
mere object; reification . . .
"Absolute purity" or "essential identities" exclude communication and
exchange with others.
Hardness,
coldness, unresponsiveness, lack of receptivity, sympathy or empathy
Pride, vanity, arrogance (v. humility)
Despair,
decline over progress (though,
like us & them, common enough)
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