Anthropology: What Does It Mean To Be Human?

Understanding Human Beings In Joel M. Charon’s article “What Does It Mean to Be Human?: Human Nature, Society, and Culture,” he explains what makes us human by showing us the main differences between humans and animals. Using a sociological perspective we are called to see links between social structures to our personal, social, and cultural development.

At some point in time we have all wondered what it means to human, and what we are supposed to do with our lives. Throughout the centuries, there have been gradual changes in what it means to be human. Through Pico della Mirandola we will how man became the measure and took the place of God, through Charles Darwin we will see how nature and science began to take the place of man, and through the art of Friedrich we can visually see all of these changes.

Caleb L. Fry and Lauren T. Rios Department of Anthropology Lake Tahoe Community College One College Drive South Lake Tahoe, California 96150 USA Faculty Advisor: Daryl G. Frazetti Abstract

The texts, “The Western Heritage”, and the “Western Civilization” offer unique perspectives on the birth of the western civilization through the years predating the 1300s. Both narratives navigate through thousands of years of history, exploring the political, economic, social and military aspects of the evolution of the western civilization. Whilst both texts discuss the birth and creation of civilization as defined by the western world, the readings vary stylistically as well as in their elaborations of the evolution of society. While their themes of civilization such as religion, and agriculture coincide with one another the approach in their discussion differs.

I recently completed an anatomy class, and the professor posed a question to us. He said something along the lines of, "The controller of the entire body, its functions, its thoughts, its nerves, of everything, is the brain. How can we be sure all of that is true? That's simply what the brain is telling us is true." So what does it really mean to be human? Is there a correct answer, or are there wrong answers? Is everything that you personally believe correct because there is no definite answer to this perplexing question?

“We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us and wealth classified us.”(Minds). The word human is defined as “of, relating to, or characteristic of humans”(Webster Human). This definition gives us a perfect example of why the meaning of this term is so ambiguous. Debates over what truly defines a human have been going on for decades. The disputes over this have ranged from Frankenstein’s monster to Data the android from Star Trek. The question still remains, what truly defines a human? More importantly, can this be defined for us by society?

The questions, “What does it mean to be human, and how might we transcend human nature?” have been a subject of debate for philosophical and theological thinkers for centuries. In recent history, scientific discoveries have led to a resurgence of these ancient debates that break down into three primary schools of thought. There are those who believe that we, like the rest of the animal kingdom, have certain basic “programming” that determines our fundamental nature, and those who believe that human beings are born “tabula rasa” and that nurture determines who we are. The issue becomes increasingly complex for those with the theological belief that human beings are spiritual creatures and that our spirituality is what defines us. However, a

What does it mean to be human? It is a question that has occupied the minds of many people for hundreds, if not thousands of years. In the documentary, ‘The Human Experience’, two brothers and their friends travel around the world to come up with an answer, through working with the homeless, communities plagued with AIDS and leprosy, as well as children with disabilities. By the end of the documentary, they emerge with a newfound understanding and appreciation of the human condition, and discover what it truly means to be human. For their first experience, Cliff and Jeff took to the streets of New York and lived like homeless men during the coldest week of winter.

The apex of human existence is to uncover what is human existence or further what is the reason anything exists and especially what does it mean to have conscious thought; in other words, to find out what it means to be human. This can be further expand upon on as what is everyone’s individual purpose and how would those purposes change based on the social, economic, and political situations which vary between person to person and even civilization to civilization. Does being human mean one is just an animal with conscience thought or is the reason behind why consciousness something much more than pure natural selection, because according to the theory of evolution natural selection is only a need to either help keep the moto of survival of

Anthropology has come a long way in getting people to understand its unique work. It is not just for the benefit of the study itself, but it allows people to be aware of how other groups of people of different backgrounds and cultures view the world. Nowadays in modern society, ignorance and prejudice have made acknowledgement and understanding of one’s cultural identity harder because many believe that their ideals or methods of living are correct. Aside from culture, anthropology aims to reveal how people interact and are able to form coherent societies despite their similarities or differences. This can be done by “making the familiar strange and the strange familiar,” which means taking a familiar phenomenon and describing it to make

What does it mean to be human? Is it in a curve of a mother’s back, a single bead of sweat tracing the contours of her face as she hums to sooth her tiny child on her back? Is it the fires of a furnace, as a star-like metal is poured into a elongated mold? Is it in the halls of lecture halls, as she scribbles out the code to space travel to an audience of enthused students? There are so many ways to classify ‘humanity’, be it by the biological material, or the compassion of one to another, or simply by our ‘superior intellect.’ However, a fruit--a banana--shares more of our genetic information that nearly any other organism. Other animals have been proven to show compassion--elephants staying behind to help their

Within every society, and every community or settlement across the globe, there is undoubtedly one thing that they have in common; we identify this as ‘culture’. “Culture is a design for living” (Clyde Kluckhohn, cited in Halambros et al, 2013: 5), it describes the norms, values, beliefs, and practises of a people. The economic base and division of labour, political structure, religion, and strata of the Nama Tribe

For my To Be human assignment the central theme of my drawing is “what does it mean to be human.” I chose to do a comic/drawing that visually/creatively represents four distinct things that I believe sets us humans apart from other animals. These are four different aspects of the human condition that people, as well as myself personally, see as the things that make us human.

Anthropologists study the small and remote in order to understand what it means to be human by focusing on specific cultures and their particular characteristics. Typically anthropologists were known to study non-Western societies such as Bronislaw Malinowski studying the people of the Trobriand Islands in Melanesia and Marjorie Shostak living with the !Kung. More recently, anthropologists like Jeffrey Schonberg and Philippe Bourgois have begun studying subcultures within Western societies. However, if anthropologists studied the large and complex it could undermine the core values and theories that structure the study of anthropology.

Since the emergence of anthropology in the late 1800’s, the customs and methods of this academic discipline have been altered in many ways. It is assumed that in the early years of anthropology, theorists relied on travelers in order to articulate their theories (Dahl 2017). This practice is known as armchair anthropology and involves creating theories without any fieldwork. Some examples of famous armchair anthropologists include Edward Burnett Tylor and James Frazer. The work of both theorists involved no travelling or conducting of fieldwork. Early anthropology focused on primitive cultures and how societies transformed from being barbaric to civilized. In modern days, anthropology is discovering new topics to study every day and the information relies a great amount on fieldwork and lab work conducted by anthropologists to support their findings. As some of the early methods of anthropology continue to be used by anthropology, more are being developed in order to produce more efficient research and theories.