Philosophy Human Person
6 July 2016
The Human Person
Introduction
Human being is the most sophisticated species in the universe. In terms of
technological advancements, human beings are way ahead of even their closest relatives, the
chimpanzees. The question of the meaning of a human being on earth is something that is
never far away from our minds. The subject of what it means to be a human being has baffled
many critical thinkers for generations. The whole meaning of a human being encompasses the
value and the purpose of a human being. For this reason, any scholar who wants to get to the
depth of the meaning of human beings must battle with the value of a human being and his
purpose.
While some scholars look at the question of what it means to be a human being at an
individual level, others choose to see it as a collective endeavor that should involve the
general society. According to Hegel, a person grasps not idiosyncratic, but detached aims; he
is a part of the harmony not only of the human race but of the whole universe because the
essence of both the universe and man is the spirit.
Philosophy is one of the fields of studies whose studies have attempted to answer the
question of what it meaning of humanity. This discipline builds what other disciplines have
discovered to explain the purpose of human being’s existence.
At the very minimum, studying philosophy helps in expanding one’s worldview.
Indeed, philosophy is one the disciplines which encourages questioning of facts and
interrogation of myths. The choice to study philosophy is one that leads to opening of one’s
mind and increasing the mental faculty of an individual. Thus, this leads to critical thinking
about why human beings exist in the first place.
Philosophy is one field that help us to attempt to explain the question of what it means
to be a human being. Some of the philosophers who have broached on this subject are,
Augustine, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, and Nietzsche. Philosophy, being a discipline which
helps a person to widen his worldview, also helps a person to ask the fundamental questions
in life. Such questions, even though may not have an immediate answer, often lead to an
inquiry and a widening of perspectives. One of such questions is “what it means to be a
human being”.
Friedrich Nietzsche notes that the ability to think critically is makes know what is
beyond our mental borders. Studying philosophy helps in in the minds of human beings, the
