What does it mean to be human

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What does it mean to be human?
By Benjamin Cullen.
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Development
These five foetuses are all at the same stage of
development but only one is human. Which one is
it? As the above pictures show, humans develop
very similarly to other mammals. Therefore,
there must be a reason why we develop into what
we are. We could argue that God deliberately
designed us to be like that. However, this
argument no longer holds sway in an increasingly
atheistic society. We are created from random
mitosis and as such perhaps it is only random
chance that makes us human.
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Stubbornness
Humankind is inherently stubborn and determined.
It is part of our human nature, that we
stubbornly refuse to give up, whatever the cost.
This is perhaps best shown by the continued
determination of generals that they could win the
first World War by sending men into the teeth of
murderous machine gun fire. That the men were
willing to do so and also that they survived is a
testament to human stubbornness and our
determination to survive. Humans also stubbornly
refuse to countenance that they can be wrong.
This most human of traits has caused intense
suffering down the ages and we can probably blame
this on the Judeo-Christian tradition of an eye
for an eye. However as Gandhi said an eye for
an eye, and the world will soon be blind.
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Ethicist's views

• There are several ethicists who we should
  consider here. John Stuart Mill in the 19th
  century wrote It is better to be Socrates
  dissatisfied, rather than a pig satisfied. In
  this he shows that humans are different to and
  better than animals. Perhaps the most important
  philosopher here is the hard line utilitarian
  Peter Singer. To Singer, these qualities make us
  human, with a reasonable quality of life
• Having the ability to carry out actions for
  ourselves.
• Being able to plan for the future.
• Being able to go on holidays.
• Having the ability to look forward to future
  events.
• To Singer, a being must possess all these
  qualities to be human. Lacking even one makes
  you little more than a beast.

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Ability to contemplate.
Humans alone out of all the sentient races have
the ability to question what will happen in the
future and what has happened in the past. We are
also alone in that we can express these feelings
in such a way as any other human can understand
them. For all its supposed human like qualities,
the chimpanzee cannot question why it was put on
the earth or how some berries are edible, while
others will kill them if they eat them. The pig,
for all its supposed intelligence cannot
contemplate like we do, the great philosophical
questions such as does God exist? And what is the
source of conscience. Also we humans unlike other
beasts build structures that are not strictly
necessary for survival and perform other acts
such as education, that are not necessary for us
to survive.