On Being Human

So much of what we do in EcoThought revolves around understanding how to design environments to create sustainable human living environments, that I could not help but take some time out to consider what it actually means to be human.

Setting aside belief systems as a basis for defining what it means to be human, one rapidly comes to the bedrock that Descartes encountered when he coined the well known phrase "cogito ergo sum" - (I am thinking, therefore I exist). From this bedrock Descartes rebuilt his philosophy on the basis of his belief in a "perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing God".   In a global society, however, where for many a belief in such a God is not a part of their existence, how do we move from this bedrock to understand what it means to be human.

One possibility is in the work of the political philosopher, Hannah Arendt. Arendt suggested in her work titled "The Human Condition" the reassertion of the Vita Activa (the life of action - specifically labour, work and action)) as the apex of human existence. The basis for this is her belief that the realm of ideas had subordinated the realm of human action to a lower level of importance. She further separated the realm of labour to that of the human existence which takes place within the oikos (the private realm of the household) from the realm of polis (the realm of the political community) and suggested that it was the work which takes place in the polis which creates the enduring artefacts of humanity.

A contrasting view comes from the work of the modern psychologist Abraham Maslow . Maslow placed at the apex of human needs the process of self actualization. Interestingly, Maslow suggests that several preconditions were necessary in the external environment to provide a basis for need satisfaction. Specifically he suggested that freedom, justice and orderliness were necessary.  There is probably some correlation between these needs and the realm of the polis. Certainly it is necessary for people to be free before they can explore the realm of creation of lasting human monuments and ideas. It is also necessary for them to meet Maslow's lower level needs of safety, security, food water etc before they can ponder higher ideas.

My personal view is that there is a fusion of all of these principles which come together in the creation of the environments in which the activities of both the oikos and the polis can be conducted. Arendt thought that the doorway from the oikos was a true portal from the world of labour into the world of work. I think, however, that a cohesive approach to understanding modern human existence is to understand that there is no portal between the two worlds and the considerations which we take into the design of our living environments are the same ones we need to take into the design of the workplace.  Thus we need to understand the human condition as a fusion of labour, work, action and thinking. In fact thinking becomes the key to improving the conduct of human labour, work and action.

About slade

Slade is an Enterprise Architect, Business Analyst and Project Manager with extensive experience in the Defence, National Security, Emergency Services and secure systems environment. Slade has been in the IT industry since 1988, and is experienced in systems engineering, systems architecture, systems integration, security assessment and development of sustainment frameworks for new systems. He is also a thought leader in human factors for the design of critical decision support systems and environments and the development of enterprise and solution level architecture for high information workload environments. Slade is the Director of EcoThought Pty Ltd