D'Nalor Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Why do we call ourselves human beings? we do not call dogs 'dog beings' or cats 'cat beings', so why do we call ourselves human beings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badfella Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 (edited) Well my thought would be because way back when our language was being formed we viewed ourselves, and still do, as to be superior to other beings. its more a matter of perspective than actually being. from our perspective we are the superior species due to our understanding and cognitive abilities, thus making us worthy of "being" human. that being said, the merriam webster dictionary's definition of being is : 1 a: the quality or state of having existence b (1): something conceivable as existing (2): something that actually exists (3): the totality of existing things c: conscious existence : life. so anything that exists in this world that is living or conscious is a being of some sort. so the reason we call ourselves human beings would be because it sounds good and through the years it has been ingrained into our minds as a speech default. if we called ourselves human objects from the beginning we would probably have a discussion on why do we call ourselves human objects and not dog objects or cat objects. so it wouldent really be a biological question, more of a linguistic question. i hope that made sense and i dident make a fool of myself on my first post. Edited July 30, 2008 by badfella 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePurpleSmudge Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 I agree with badfella. I think this is more of a linguistics question than a biology question. As I understand it, the word "being" is used to denote sentience. When we discuss the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life we often refer to seeking out "other beings." Meaning other self-aware organisms with culture and technology. As I see it, the term "beings" isn't really a value judgment as much as a simple (and useful) descriptor. And as badfella said, by now the words "human being" are probably being parsed at a phrasal level rather than analyzed individually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsemmapeel Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 'To BE or not to BE? That is the question.':eyebrow: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badfella Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 lol well said. why dident i think of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Nalor Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 I don't know about the intelligence thing. a well trained dog is more intelligent than a baby, and we call babies human beings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YT2095 Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Time isn`t intelligent either, but we say "for the Time Being". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christiannnna Posted September 7, 2008 Share Posted September 7, 2008 I never thought of this before. Maybe because we're the leading race of animals. Same goes for the time thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insane_alien Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 I never thought of this before.Maybe because we're the leading race of animals. Same goes for the time thing we're not the leading race of animals by most methods of measuring it. infact, i think only in technology do we come out on top. we're not the most populous, we're not the most widespread, we don't have the most biomass, we have a narrow range of conditions in which we can survive without technology we die pretty easily we don't affect the climate the most and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john5746 Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 we're not the leading race of animals by most methods of measuring it. infact, i think only in technology do we come out on top. AAhh! That's not a very good slogan! Humans are number one! Yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caveman42 Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 nice answer badfella! the post is more of a linguistic question... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snare Posted September 21, 2008 Share Posted September 21, 2008 This is probably more of a lingual or psychological question. But other things are called "beings" as well, it's just not that commonly used. I suppose a layperson would consider a "being" a creature of sentience - if not a human, than an extraterrestrial alien or "mutant" life form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realitycheck Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 To be or not to be ... tis the dilemma shared by all potential self-replicating molecules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diocletian Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 This isn't really a linguistics nor biological question as much as a philosophical one. Man is genetically programmed to wonder, and the first thing that early man must have wondered about was his own existence. Therefore, we came to think of ourselves as "beings", ones who are clearly defined and clearly exist. After all, our bodies are the only things that we can truly be sure of (the rest of the world is an illusion anyway, as scientifically proven) and so its existence is tantamount to our thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comandante Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 It's a philosophical question. We probably consider ourselves as 'beings' because we are able to question our existence or "being", which in itself is a proof that we do exist (Descartes,1637) hence why we started calling ourselves 'beings'. That's how I look at it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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