humanness

Humanness (or humanity) refers to the traits, capacities, and experiences that characterize humans as a species and as beings within social contexts. Biologically, humanness denotes membership in Homo sapiens and the anatomical and physiological features that support advanced cognition and language. Cognitively, it includes conscious awareness, symbolic thought, language and communication, imagination, problem solving, and the capacity to reflect on one’s own mind (theory of mind). Socially, humanness is expressed in complex cooperation, institutions, culture, art, religion, and shared meanings. Ethically, it involves moral agency, accountability, empathy, and a concern for others, often guiding norms, rights, and justice.

Discussions of humanness often engage with what distinguishes humans from other animals or machines: high-level abstraction, culture, and symbolic communication, along with the vulnerability and mortality that frame the human condition. The concept is also contested. Some scholars view humanness as an essential set of core traits; others see it as a social construct contingent on history and context. Dehumanization—treating people as less than human—contrasts with efforts to affirm dignity and rights.

In contemporary discourse, humanness intersects with debates on bioethics, posthumanism, artificial intelligence, and inclusivity, raising questions about which traits should define or preserve human worth as technologies and societies evolve.