CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH HUMANITY

Characteristics associated with humanity vary depending on perspective. The most central of these are:

  • Consciousness and self-awareness – the ability to be aware of one's own existence and reflect on one's own thoughts

  • Morality and ethical thinking – the ability to distinguish right from wrong and make moral choices

  • Selfishness – the driving force of human behaviour

  • Empathy – the ability to understand others' feelings and put oneself in another's position

  • Language and symbolic communication – sharing complex thoughts and culture

  • Creativity and artistic expression – the ability to create something new and express oneself artistically

  • Abstract thinking – the ability to process non-concrete concepts and ideas

  • Free will and freedom of choice – the experience that one can make independent decisions and express opinions freely

  • The ability to form deep emotional bonds

  • Individual freedom and autonomy – the individual's right to determine their own life

  • Human rights – universal, inalienable rights for every human being

  • Common good – societal decision-making should promote the wellbeing of citizens.

  • Honesty – saying one thing and not meaning something else

  • Rationality – rational thinking and valuing science

  • Economic freedom – economic freedom and protection of private property

  • Equality – the aspiration to treat people equally

  • Pluralism – pluralism and acceptance of diversity

Philosophically, humanity should be understood as a process or journey, not merely a set of characteristics.

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CONSCIOUSNESS AND SELF-AWARENESS

Consciousness and self-awareness are central dimensions of humanity that distinguish us from many other organisms and give our experience a unique character.

Consciousness refers to the subjective experience of the surrounding world and oneself. It is the ability to sense, feel, and experience things "from within". Consciousness includes:

  • Experientiality – things have a certain feel or "what it's like to be" dimension

  • Sensory and emotional experience – colours, sounds, feelings, pain, pleasure

  • Attention and presence in the moment – the ability to focus on certain parts of experience

  • The existence of a subjective perspective – experience always happens "to someone"

Self-awareness is a more developed form of consciousness in which an individual is capable of making themselves the object of their consciousness:

  • Capacity for reflection – examining one's own mind's contents, thoughts, and feelings

  • Self-concept – a coherent conception of oneself as a continuous being across time

  • Autobiographical memory – constructing one's own life story and identity

  • Metacognition – the ability to think about one's own thinking and be aware of the limits of one's knowledge

  • The ability to differentiate self from others – a clear understanding of the separateness of one's own existence

Thanks to self-awareness, we can:

  • Plan the future and reflect on the past

  • Ask existential questions about our existence

  • Understand our own mortality

  • Develop moral thinking and responsibility

  • Form complex social relationships based on understanding others' mental states

In philosophy, consciousness and self-awareness have been pondered for millennia. The question of how physical brain activity generates subjective experience is a great challenge in consciousness research.

The development of consciousness and self-awareness in humans begins in early childhood and continues throughout life. Cultural practices such as tranak can deepen self-awareness and change the quality of the experience of consciousness.

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