Giorgio Agamben and Carl Linnaeus: What Makes Us Human? Essay Example

Just like other animals, Human Beings are living, breathing organisms recognizable to themselves and others. They can smell, hear, taste, see and touch. They feel pain, thirst, hunger, sickness, injury, apprehension, pleasure and tiredness. It is through these sensations that they feel themselves and other recognizable organisms around them. However, an undefinable and invisible aspect of human beings distinguishes them from other organisms; they can think, judge, reflect, remember and anticipate. The element is called the soul, heart, spirit, consciousness, awareness, or the mind.

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Possessing the mind draws a clear boundary between human beings and closer species like apes. But, to be fully human, a human being must be able to identify and define themselves as a human being. This paper explores the importance of identifying ourselves as humans to qualify as human. It philosophically synthesizes the theories portrayed by Carl Linnaeus and discussed by Giorgio Agamben in Taxonomies. Carl Linnaeus, who lived between 1707 and 1778, is the father of modern taxonomy. He was a Swedish Zoologist, botanist, and physician who came up with binomial nomenclature, where an organism is assigned two names, the first name denoting the genus and the last name denoting the species (Agamben, 2004).

When it came to human beings, Linnaeus insisted, in his original works, that if not for the gap between the canine teeth of apes, there is no difference between apes and man. In the process of building up the taxonomy of apes, Linnaeus did not record any distinguishing features for human beings since they should "know yourself." He eventually named humans Homo sapiens, but the name was not hinting at any description. Overall, Carl was convinced that the only thing that tells the human being apart is the ability to recognize itself. According to Carl, Homo represents apes, and whoever recognizes themselves as not homo, qualifies as Homo sapiens (Aronfreed, 2014).

Carl's representation of humans makes sense. Truly, one must recognize themselves as human to qualify as human. One's conscience aids this recognition. Conscience is the most powerful thing in any human being. Firstly, it gives someone the capacity to tell right and wrong. This makes a person capable of coping with and keeping the accepted standards of behavior at a particular time and culture. It is important to remember, though, that different societies may disagree about what's wrong or right, but that only reinforces the impact of conscience in self-recognition. In defining humans, there are psychopaths and sociopaths which means people with no conscience. Conscience is the primary sense of value and individual responsibility (De Waal, 2014).

To fully execute conscience, a person must take action. The soul inspires the need to make a decision, judgment or commitment to do what is correct. In this case, one believes to be avoiding what is wrong and doing what is right. The decision one reaches depends on the values they've gathered from society and personal perceptions. The judgment comes together with the decisions about what kind of person to become (Meynell, 2015). The importance of cooperating with our conscience is that it is part of our responsibility to fulfill, respect and work for the supreme good. It is the way God speaks to us.

Conscience also helps humans to learn facts about the society and its moral values. This helps in reasoning stably and making correct judgments. This kind of Conscience is built and informed, and makes one to have correct seeing and right thinking; thus, a person relies on the society to learn values rather than expecting society to learn from them. If this conscience is not correctly balanced, it results in error, blindness in insight and disagreements (Calarco & Atterton, 2004). According to Linnaeus, people showing this behavior do not qualify as humans, thus can be considered apes. It adds up because some errors and disagreements cost too much, and at times even cost lives, which humans are expected to preserve and protect.

The configuration of the human mind makes it easier to identify self as human. For example, it enables humans to evoke responses that other animals cannot; like blushing. It eases interactions between humans in that a person might earn forgiveness for a wrong deed by merely blushing. Since blushing is an involuntary act and has been proven absent in other species, humans understand it as a way of showing remorse and apology and is thus considered more genuine that verbal or physical apologies. Also, the ability to blush makes the human element of an individual more prominent, thus qualifying them automatically as Homo sapiens (Bernstein, 2015).

Recognizing oneself as human through the mind and soul also helps humans to organize the world. The mind develops thoughts that, when property transcribed into action, lead to activities that enhance human survival and functioning in all social setups. These thoughts are what assign a space for everything and creates order on Earth. Also, the human element helps humans develop and learn language and use it to build social ties. Unlike apes, a human being can learn many languages, which means they can survive among other strains of human beings; which apes cannot. (Pinker, 2009). Thus, the mind makes human beings creatures who make thoughts which lead to actions that influence the structure of their immediate environment.

The pursuit for order prompted humans to create governments. The society remits taxes to the government, and the government uses the funds to provide services like security, health, education and infrastructure. The government also maintains law and order in order to tame citizens who may stray from accepted codes of conduct. The accepted code is documented in the constitution; which also spells the rights that a person has even when they are suspected of breaking the law. (Pasternak, 2007). Through governments, bad behavior is controlled, wealth gets fairly distributed and programs also get created to enhance harmony and peaceful coexistence among people and protect plants and other animals.

Just like other apes, the human mind also has memory, but it is striking in that humans can narrate their memories. Storytelling is a trait unique to human beings. The memory helps people to be aware of their existence, anticipate the future and enhances the chances of survival for the human being (Calarco, 2015). Anticipating the future helps in preparedness for possible scenarios without having to physically get involved. Storytelling allows humans to pass on knowledge to next generations, thus, every new generation emerges more culturally, intellectually and technically advanced than the previous one (Leakey, 2008). It is for this that humans have explored the universe, developed artificial intelligence and dominate over other species.

Conclusion

Overall, human conscience is the universal basis for human existence. It is the source of all happiness and suffering in the modern world. The mind builds perceptions of our surrounding and converts them into action through the body. Thus, as Carl Linnaeus expressed, it is important to understand who we are and what the mind truly is to qualify as human, to avert ape-like behavior and end suffering. When humans build mindfulness for all actions, the body will naturally follow suit in doing right always and keeping human always.

Bibliography

Agamben, G. 2004. The open man and animal. Stanford, Calif, Stanford University Press. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=e000xna&AN=122104.

Aronfreed, J. 2014. Conduct and Conscience The Socialization of Internalized Control Over Behavior. Saint Louis, Elsevier Science. http://qut.eblib.com.au/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1874986.

Bernstein, M. H. 2015. The moral equality of humans and animals.

Calarco, M. 2015. Thinking through animals: identity, difference, indistinction. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=3568948.

Calarco, M., & Atterton, P. 2004. Animal philosophy: essential readings in continental thought. London, Continuum.

De Waal, F. B. M. 2014. Evolved morality: the biology and philosophy of human conscience. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1650185.

Leakey, R. (2008). Origins reconsidered: in search of what makes us human. [Place of publication not identified], Paw Prints.

Meynell, M. (2015). What makes us human? [Place of publication not identified], The Good Book Company.

Pasternak, C. 2007. What makes us human? Oxford, Oneworld.

Pinker, S. 2009. How the mind works. [Place of publication not identified], W.W. Norton. https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=2C942D40-B942-4231-9E94-8F557650FCBA.