According to Descartes’s argument of what it means to be a human being, he came with the conclusion that being a human is to be a thinking thing. My mind can exist without my body. I am a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only in thinking, at which it does not depend on the material thing (a body).
To be truly human is to be self-conscious, the awareness that one exists as an individual. Humans are “the measure of all things”; which means that as an individual I am free and responsible to be my intellectual authority on all matters. Nobody has a right to tell me what to think. To be human, you are an active mind with various modes of thinking. I am a thing that doubts, understands, conceives, affirms, denies, desires, wills, refuse, imagines, and senses.
Descartes came to a point where he says that “I think therefore I am.” The fact that I am capable of any form of thought that assures my existence as a human. He concludes by saying, for as long as I think, I exist. It is possible that as soon as I stop thinking, I no longer exist. What differentiates humans from all the living organism is the capability to think.
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Hegel argued that being a human means to partake in the developmental ‘dialectical’ journey of the spirit in which it becomes embodied in matter. The Pure Spirit desired for a complete self-awareness and for it to accomplish this, it had to undergo different stages. The spirit had to become a dumb matter before it could evolve to what it desired, which is a human. To be truly human is when we develop self-consciousness and have an urge to be recognized by other humans. As a person, you are what you desire. The things that you have a desire to portraying who you are. Hegel argues that a crucial part of becoming fully human is to develop self-consciousness. At this point, you desire a person’s recognition of your worth as a human. A fully human being has a struggle known as a ‘fight to the death,’ where one is to establish personal power in connection with others. It is that time when I recognize others like me that I become aware that I am a self at the center of the universe. Hegel argues, we create an ironic situation where to win is to lose and to lose is to win.
According to the two philosophical perspectives, Descartes’s perspective is most relevant in understanding life in a contemporary context. I disagree that for a person to be truly a human you have to be recognized by another human, according to Hegel’s perspective. I need not a person to approve my identity, I know how I am. I perceive humans as a thinking thing as Descartes said in his perspective. We act according to our thoughts. If you think you are rejected, you will act rejected. Automatically your body does what your mind thinks. Our physical health can be affected by our mental state, not vice versa. For example, a physical breakdown is the result of our thinking. A person should guard his/her mind not to be contaminated. People commit suicide because they cannot handle the evil thoughts in them. The fact that I doubt my existence as a human that proves that I exist because my mind is the one doing the doubting. If a person dies, the only thing that remains is the body, but the mind is no longer functioning. As long as thinking occurs in a person’s mind that gives an assurance that there is still life, she/he has not died. I say that a person is a mind, not a body.
