Human, or not?

[Seeker]

I'd like to get everyone's thoughts on a few related questions I think get to the heart of such issues as abortion and euthanasia.  
* How do you define being human?  
* What is a person?
* What distinguishes us from animals and other life, if anything?  

Science, religion, and philosophy help provide answers to this deep question, but it seems each individual has a different take on this.  If you provide an answer, please let us know why.

[JoeSz]

Seeker,

my response to all three of your questions is God's will.  I distinguish between the use of the words human and person by acknowledging that God has a will for humans in general as well as a specific will for each individual person.  The reason humans have a dignity above the rest of creation is that God wills for humanity and each person a greater end than He wills for the rest of creation.  What I believe is that God exists and has a will for all humans and each person which is greater than what He wills for the rest of creation.  That one is a human, that one is a person and that one is possessed of human dignity all stem from the nature of God's will for one.

I believe this because reason tells me that if God exists, that is if there exists one and only one truth, then all of creation must be defined by that truth.  I reason that there exists at least one truth because if there were no truth then it would be true that "there is no truth".  In which case, "there is no truth" would be the truth, contradicting itself.  It follows then that there must be at least one truth.  I reason that there must be only one truth since if there were a collection of truths containing more than one distinct truth at least two of those truths would contradict each other or at least two of those truths would be incomplete.  Hence, there can be no collection of truths with more than one distinct truth.  I conclude that God exists.  In order to be truthful, I must then acknowledge that God's will defines creation for me.

JoeSz

[tklein1014]

How do you define being human?

Being a member of the species, Homo Sapien.  I'm not a scientist, but I'm pretty sure this is a scientific fact.

What is a person?

A person, from a scientific perspective, is a human (Homo Sapien) with their own individually unique DNA.  Again, I'm no expert, but I think this is based on scientific evidence.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  From a religious perspective, a person is a human w/a soul (religious DNA ).

What distinguishes us from animals and other life, if anything?

For me what distinguishes us from plants/other animals is that plants/animals have instincts and rely only on those when responding to certain environmental stimuli.  Humans have a more complex system of feelings, emotions, ability to reason & reflect, etc.

Tina