Also sorry, I wrote this a while
Back actually and figured it was coincidental that it was a question here.
What Makes us Human?
Ultimately, assuming that you’re talking about from a mental or moral standpoint and not a physical one, nothing makes us human.
We chose to be human.
Being human is more of a state of a collective unification of emotions, say the fact that humans have bonded over the hatred of fruitcake. Or that we agree that killing people is wrong. Being human is simply having and expressing complex emotions.
Henri Nouwen is quoted as saying, “What makes us human is not our mind, but our heart”
Thusly further indicating that the idea of humanity is derived from the fact that we have these complex emotions, the one that Nouwen is referring to, being love. Many people will agree with this statement, as do I. Having emotions, especially being in love, is as human as human can be.
Yet this presents the issue that humans are not the only thing that can be human. An animal conservationist by the name of Damian Aspinall, and countless others, have proven that apes, one of the most intelligent species besides humans, can, and do, feel love. So then, Apes are human.
And this phenomenon doesn’t just stop at apes, dolphins have been documented as falling in love, with humans. And even swans, they mate for life, being sad and alone once their mate dies.
So, are all animals human?
In the end, there is no final statement I can make. There’s no right or wrong here. For if all animals are human, what could the ramifications of eating them, or even having some as pets, have? These are things that many don’t want to consider, myself included.
What Makes us Human?
The border we like to keep between animal and man is truly what makes us human. Not being able to communicate or see the human nature of animals is what separates us. Us not wanting to be animals or not wanting animals to be human, is what makes us human.