We, as individuals, are compelled to ask and answer the significant question of humanness, because the way we live our lives comes from, in large part, the response that we give. Therefore, our personal worldview is the framework from which we make sense of life and the realm of actuality in which we exist. A human is distinguished from other animals by superior mental development and power of articulate speech. We are highly complex machines who, I believe, have a purpose, and the freedom to control our own lives.
The human mind is a powerful and large component to the body. We have spawned civilizations, cultures, and technologies that have changed the face of the earth. However, a defined explanation on what it means to be a human being is oftentimes unclear. I believe that self-awareness is a large part of humanity because we have the ability to separate ourselves from the surrounding world, and have a sense of our own existence. We have the capability to choose to do things without instigation, prediction, and reason. Nevertheless, a human being is also created and cared for by our God. We are living because of Him, for Him, and through Him. Without our God we would have no life, and therefore could not be a human being. Every action, every emotion,
…show more content…
and every function of our bodies set us apart in the world. But since it is God that made that possible, we, as human beings, are responsible for following Him and finding the purpose of the life that he created. A wise man named Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said that, “The mystery of human existence lies not just in staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” Through God we are able to find a purpose in life despite the challenge it takes to unearth it.
I believe that, in general, life purpose is not to be happy. It is to be useful, honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference, and to know you have lived and lived well. We were put on this earth to achieve our greatest self, which we cannot do without the assistance of God. A relationship with Him is the only thing that will quench our souls longing, find peace within ourselves, and be the best we can be in the short amount of time that we
have. All things considered, we essentially have the freedom of choice. God gives us options. The only thing He requires is that once we walk through the door of one of the alternatives, we must be prepared to live with the consequences. He does not present these dilemmas with malice, but out of sincere desire to make it possible to live as true people of God. If He removed us from all bad choices, we would have no freedom at all. God created us to have options, and to be individuals striving to find a way. He presents us with choice and consequence, therefore freedom is handed to us. The rest is a decision we are able to make on our own. Everyone, whether Christian or non-Christian, whether religious or non-religious, seeks to establish a world view that serves as the foundation for all our thoughts and actions. This then shapes our interpretation of the world. Thus, the way we interpret our world greatly affects how we live our lives.
In order to define personhood, one must first define a human. A Human can be thought about in two different senses, a moral human sense and a genetic human sense. In a moral sense, humans can be thought of as a person who is a member of the moral community. In a genetic sense, humans are merely any physical being categorized as a being in the human species. From this one can conclude that a person is a human in the moral sense. Furthermore, characteristics of a person must be defined in order to differentiate moral beings from genetic humans.
The definition of humanity is not something students spend much time thinking about. It seems all of humanity has a silent agreement on the definition, but it is never clearly stated, simply for the fact that we do not know how to say it. While the most accurate definition is surely defined by an array of unique features, there is one aspect that, devoid of, one cannot have a human. To be human is to be able to think for oneself, and only to oneself. Sentience is no strange measure of one’s humanity, it has been used countless times before as such a metric. However, I propose to you today that the ability to think is, by necessity, private, or else humanity is lost. Once people can read each other’s thoughts, they are no longer human, they are just an asset; a self-computing computer. In short, Psychic powers rob the humanity from a person, which is plainly demonstrated in Philip K Dick’s Ubik.
David Hume explores the issue of what exactly comprises the “self”. Hume states in his Treatise of Human Nature that
“Objection, evasion, joyous distrust, and love of irony are signs of health; everything absolute belongs to pathology.” (Nietzsche 1886) This quote from Beyond Good and Evil, is an example of existentialist purpose, since he is listing parts of life, some of witch can be considered purpose to life, and the consider it a disease, as if he has no purpose. I somewhat agree, because I don’t understand the point in life,¬¬–– there is no point is there. I guess the purpose of living is the everyday family, friends, and trying best to be happy or to make everyone who’s around happy. To be completely honest I’m not sure if there is a purpose, I would think that the main purpose for humankind is to function normally for society. This way we can all insure the well being of others and to keep others alive and well. I would say living in harmony with others would be my purpose. I will know that I have fulfilled my purpose when those around me are happy and at
The meaning of life is to find the meaning of life. Is it not? We all go through each day trying to figure out which road out the infinite amount of paths will lead us in a better direction where happiness is prominent and society is flawless. However, not every single human being is going to fit on that narrow, one-lane highway to success. Bad choices, accidents, fate, family matters, society, temptation, anger, rage, addiction, and loss of hope can all be deciding factors in opting to choose that wrong path to self-destruction. The adverse thing is, once you've traveled so far down the road, you get so discouraged that you feel like you can never turn back or make up for the "lost time."
I am often bombarded with a seven word question in life as I am sure many other people are. “What is your ultimate goal in life?” Many answers may differ, but my answer seems to always be the same; to seek happiness. If one can’t seek happiness what is the point of living? If you are miserable all the time and not living life with a positive mindset is there any so called “value” to your life? I’m not saying that you have to be happy all of the time because that is hard to achieve. Sometimes there are so called “punishments” in order to seek happiness, but once one achieves happiness it is a feeling that is indescribable.
What is it that makes us human? Is it our actions, our sense of purpose, or our ability to keep our mind on as well as perform complex tasks? Is it that we analyze our own mental processes, as well as the processes of others? What exactly is a mental state, and what creates it? Is it a level of attentiveness, an impulse, or an emotional state? What is it that allows us to experience these things? The answers all lie within our brains.
I had to go back to my country and come back to campus really feel the change I went through during the first year in college. I had to observe and interact with the first years to perceive the similarities between them and my old self, to see how I have changed and the extent to which humans are all alike. We might face the same struggles, but the ways we deal with them vary from person to person. I will try to tell my version of growing up in Lafayette.
but without happiness it will be meaningless. Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole
I will be introducing my personal worldview and what I believe. I will then, review and discuss most of the questions I conducted in my interview. I used some of my own questions formulate my interview, but then related them to the Sire textbook questions. My interview questions and answers are relevant and most intriguing to the reader. I discovered complexities, consistencies and inconsistencies within my interview. I will then, compare and contrast my personal worldview with my interviewee. My conclusion will restate and overall recap of my worldview and my interviewee’s worldview.
What does it mean to be human? Sure, one must have the usual physical features such as fingers, eyes, arms, hands, feet, etc., but what does it really mean? Must the human be able to speak? To take upon the actions of themselves? Whatever it means, it can be interpreted in any way from anyone. The physical attributes of any human can be compared to those of our evolutionary ancestors. However, it is possible to believe that there are many characteristics that make a human, but only six define the true, ideal human.
It is obvious that most parents around the globe like their children to be educated. In today’s world, education means higher living standards due to the globalization of industry and competence. My parents are an example for such ambition of pushing children into the intimacy of studying to guarantee a sustainable future. Even thought my family lives in one of the highly educated districts in Baghdad, most parents in this district believe that education is a subjective matter. Therefore, the only goal of students in my district is to attain a minimum passing grade because nobody asks them more than that, even their teachers. In other words, students consider school as a community to have fun instead of earning knowledge. The main reason for such behavior is due to the political situation of Iraq before 2003. At that time, even though a person may hold a degree in engineering, he would work for the government with little salary that is not enough for living. Therefore, educated people at that time have no value for education; they simply know that college education is not enough to build a successful carrier. They feel
Humans are extremely complex and unique beings. We are animals however we often forget our origins and our place in the natural world and consider ourselves superior to nature. Humans are animals but what does it mean to be human? What are the defining characteristics that separate us from other animals? How are we different? Human origins begin with primates, however through evolution we developed unique characteristics such as larger brain sizes, the capacity for language, emotional complexity and habitual bipedalism which separated us from other animals and allowed us to further advance ourselves and survive in the natural world. Additionally, humans have been able to develop a culture, self-awareness, symbolic behavior, and emotional complexity. Human biological adaptations separated humans from our ancestors and facilitated learned behavior and cultural adaptations which widened that gap and truly made humans unlike any other animal.
The fact that we are aware of the world around us and we decide what goes on is a fundamental ability of being human. It is mentioned multiple times. We decide who we are and where we stand in relation to the world around us because of this we have a certain power over nature even if it is not just because of our physical adaptations (Cartmill & Brown, 2012). We are human because we have both genes and traits and this makes us unique. It gives us the ability to see and interpret things differently. We are able to look towards the future and guess what is going to happen and in so doing we are able to plan ahead (Weiss, 2012). We are curious and want to learn, we want to know what is going to happen and we ask questions. We are human because we are aware of ourselves, our emotional state and where we plan to be, what our intentions are. This awareness of self allows us to be much more aware of others, to be empathetic. (Dunbar,
Happiness can come in different forms for each person. Some people dream of achieving great wealth to buy everything they ever wanted. Others may find simple tasks such as, reading a book, to make them happy. There are people who find happiness by making others happy, whether it’d be, feeding the homeless, or giving random compliments to strangers. I think that most people would agree that the purpose of life is happiness. There are several things that bring happiness to my world, which include, family, health, and laughter, among other things. Accomplishments can also bring happiness to people, which is what many people strive for during their lives. It can be a promotion, diploma, house, etc. It is usually something that is challenging,