We explain what a human is and what species it belongs to. In addition, the behaviors that characterize the human being.
What is a human?
Human is called an individual of the species Homo sapiens (Latin: “wise man”), belonging to the hominid family, order of primates, and the dominant species on planet Earth today. It is a bipedal, mammalian species, capable of reasoning and modifying its environment to its benefit and convenience, as well as making tools and using them with its upper extremities.
The oldest evidence of human presence on the planet is about 315,000 years old, when our species was just one among others of the genus Homo.
But after the disappearance of Homo neardentalis (“Man of the Neardental”) about 28,000 years ago and also from Homo floresiensis (“Man of Flowers” or Hobbit) about 13,000 years ago, we are the only species of the genus left. The reasons for this are unknown, but it is known that parts of the DNA of our ancestors survive in ours.
The set of humans is called humanity. And there is a slight conceptual distinction between a human and a human being, although biologically or scientifically there is no such.
This distinction has to do with the fact that human is any member of the species, while a human being is someone whose behavior, conduct and moral or ethical values are, at least in the most extreme cases, compatible or similar to those he professes and defends. the rest of humanity.
Humans are also social or gregarious beings, who prefer to live in the company of our species than alone. We are the only living beings capable of communicating verbally, that is, through an articulated language with the capacity for meaning and the capacity for symbolic abstraction. This is due to the complexity of our brain, the result of our particular evolution.
Formerly, human and man were used as synonyms, but it is discouraged to do so since it entails an invisibility of the female gender, preferring to speak of “human beings” or “humans”.