Monday, 11 March 2019

Post No. 1,293 - Cross post: Humans, Humanity, and Human Rights - Chapter 1 (C)

These posts are copies of the index part of my "Humans, Humanity, and Human Rights" project at my political blog. I've now added the actual content (as of 19th March, 2019), and, for future sub-chapters, will do so some time after the initial post.

*****

This project commenced with a conceptual outline, published on Saturday 1st December, 2018, at: https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2018/12/humans-humanity-and-human-rights.html
I’ve decided I’ll post each chapter in its first, raw state, and you, Dear Reader, can see if my later research (probably long after I've finished this first version, in my retirement, should I be fortunate enough to actually get to retire) led to any change. (You can also think about the points I am making.) 
I've come up with an initial structure of the book (no guarantees it won't change), and will add the links to each chapter in the latest installment as they are published. Owing to the size of each chapter, I will have to publish this using the sub-chapters.

Well, there are biological definitions, probably a whole swag of legal definitions in different jurisdictions, a definition for each religion that is interested enough (I made the mistake of initially typing “cares enough” . . . but compliance with dogma isn’t necessarily about caring, in my opinion) about the topic to define their version of its meaning, and philosophers have argued about aspects of this and related (and unrelated J ) matters for millennia.
What I mean, in this context, is “the act of being humane” – of being kind. I further define being humane as one of the key characteristics of being human (and I note that such characteristics are not necessarily limited to our species, but then I do also include membership of the species homo sapiens as another key part of being human).
For some contrast, let’s look at a few dictionary definitions, which I have collated into the table below. (Out of necessity, I have précised each definition.)
Source
Human
Humane
Humanity
Human Rights
Oxford English Dictionary [1]
Relating to or characteristic of humankind [2]
Having or showing compassion or benevolence.
formal (of a branch of learning) intended to have a civilizing effect on people. [3]
Human beings collectively. The quality of being humane; benevolence. [4]
A right which is believed to belong to every person. [5]
Wiktionary [6]
Of or belonging to the species Homo sapiens or its closest relatives. Having the nature or attributes of a human being. [7]
Variant form of human, now preserved in specialized senses. [8]
Mankind; human beings as a group. The human condition or nature. The quality of being benevolent; humane traits of character; humane qualities or aspects. Any academic subject belonging to the humanities. [9]
The basic rights and freedoms that all humans should be guaranteed, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law. [10]
Dictionary . com [11]
Adjective: of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people; consisting of people; of or relating to the social aspect of people; sympathetic, humane.
Noun: a human being. [12]
Adj.: characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, especially for the suffering or distressed; acting in a manner that causes the least harm to people or animals; of or relating to humanistic studies. [13]
All human beings collectively; the human race; humankind. The quality or condition of being human; human nature. The quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence. The humanities. [14]
Fundamental rights, especially those believed to belong to an individual and in whose exercise a government may not interfere, as the rights to speak, associate, work, etc. [15]
Online Etymology Dictionary [16]
Adjective: mid-15th C., humain, humaigne, “human,” from Old French humain, umain (adj.) “of or belonging to man” (12th C.), from Latin humanus “of man, human,” also “humane, philanthropic, kind, gentle, polite”;
Noun: “a human being,” 1530s, from human (adj.). Its Old English equivalent, guma, survives only in disguise in bridegroom. [17]
Mid-15th C., a parallel variant of human (adj.), with a form and stress that perhaps suggest a stronger association with Latin humanus than with Old French humain. [18]
Late 14th C., “kindness, graciousness, politeness; consideration for others,” from Old French humanité, umanité “human nature; humankind, life on earth; pity,” from Latin humanitatem. [19]
Human rights attested by 1680s. [20]
So, looking at these various definitions, it would seem to be that the definitional orthodoxy is:
·         “human” means a member of the species homo sapiens, a human being, or pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people; consisting of people; of or relating to the social aspect of people – with a (French) derivation that includes reference to humane;
·         “humane” means compassion or sympathy, with references to humanistic studies and a “civilising” effect, with a Latin derivation that includes “humane, philanthropic, kind, gentle, polite”;
·         “humanity” means a collective reference, or benevolence or “kindness, graciousness, politeness; consideration for others”; and
·         “human rights” refers to basic or fundamental rights “believed to belong to every person”.
I rest my case – for the moment - that kindness is an essential part of being human – there are others, of course, and kindness is not limited to homo sapiens, as anyone who has ever bonded with a pet would know.
In fact, I have also read accounts of humans being saved by animals (e.g., dolphins), and there may well be other accounts of kindness shown by other animals as well. In general, that kindness does not extend to prey, but I recall a predator appearing to befriend a young gazelle for a few days before other predators in the pack killed the unfortunate and terrified young animal.
Kindness towards prey seems to be something shown by humans, with such things as modern requirements for “humane” (i.e., not distressing to the animal) methods of slaughtering – although that doesn’t get extended to plants, and there is contested evidence that plants are capable of feeling (Fruitarianism, anyone?).
So . . ., to summarise my argument:
·         kindness is not unique to humans;
·         the extent to which humans use kindness may be unique;
·         kindness is a key, but neither exclusive nor sole, characteristic of being human; and
·         the absence of kindness may be indicative of damage to a human.
I’ve just introduced that last point, and will return to it elsewhere in this book, but for now, consider the stunned “how could they do it?” response that greets major atrocities (such as the My Lae massacre [21] , the Holocaust [22] or the human rights abuses in the USSR, mostly under Stalin [23] - and other despots have also committed such crimes [24] ), crimes (such as sadistic crime sprees, or cannibalistic crimes, or child abuse), or other abuses [25] . The absence of kindness is one part of what allows people to commit terrible acts, acts that question the very humanness of the perpetrator.
Kindness will also crop up when I consider the closely-related-to-human-rights matter of human dignity.

[3] URL https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/humane
(I didn’t expect that second definition)
[4] URL https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/humanity
(note: this is from the head page of the search on that website. If you go there, there are links to more comprehensive etymological histories)
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