The Bible states the above as the moment man became a being, and from this being civilization was created. To a believer, this would answer the question of what a human is. However, as science has progressed and more abstract ideology has fallen upon the human race, this question has come to have many answers. I feel that the definition of the term human can be correct in many different ways. As a scientific definition one could say a human is a bipedal homo sapien sapien with a spine that attached to the bottom of the skull. As a Theologist a human is all the trials and tribulations that we read about in the Bible. To me both of these definitions are true, but the challenge is finding one definition that spans across all ideology. After much thought and distress I have concluded that to be human, to be a person, is merely to exist. I agree with the statement “cogito ergo sum,” or I think therefore I am. If all you can prove without doubt is that, to exist is to thin!

k, then that is our definition. In this paper I will explain an

Gregersen’s seven features are as follows: to be a person is to be labeled with “generic characterization,” to be a person is to exercise rationale, to be a person is to hold fast to morals, to be a person is to have an identity, to be a person is to want to be part of a whole, to be a person is to be superior, and to be a person is to transcend preceding humans. These are the seven reasons and features Gregersen lists that define being a person or a human. His first point, that to be human is to have a generic character, is based on the writings of Cicero. To this reason, I say, that defining the term human is not that simple. We are complex, and to generalize on such a basic level does not and cannot fully encompass our species.

Third, Gregersen writes about morality. To be human is to be “accountable for [your] deeds” (8). Again I see strong evidence to defend this statement; I see humans pleading guilty in court rooms and accepting responsibility for their actions. I see humans mourning the loss of loved ones and exercising proper morals in this time of hardship. Yet humans are not the only species to show an understanding of morals. Elephants, for example, also mourn the loss of a family member, and as a result on these grounds we cannot separate humans from elephants and cannot define humans as being “accountable for [our] deeds.”

As you can see I analyzed each of Gregersen’s seven reasons of personhood and have countered each one. While doing this I have come to the conclusion, much like Rene Descartes that a human can only be defined by our existence and nothing more. The only un-doubtable statement we can make is that human existence is what makes us human. Descartes most clearly states to me what a human is in his second meditation:

Gregersen’s second point is also based heavily on the readings of Cicero. He wri

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