Becoming Human: An Elusive Pursuit

Viewed from a naturalistic lens, humanity is a remarkable product of biological evolution. A rather peculiar species, human primates are endowed with distinctive characteristics, such as a highly developed brain and the capacity to acquire new skills long after birth. This singularity has often been approached through the prism of cognitive capacities, such as memory, language, the power of abstraction, and rational faculties that enable the pursuit of long-term goals and the establishment of complex social structures.

By contrast, from a humanistic perspective, our species is not so much a product of biological evolution as it is an ongoing project that culminates in striving to become fully human. This ideal is inherently linked to the cultural, as well as personal, development that takes shape alongside Darwinian evolution. Anthropological history bears witness to the multiple ways in which we refer to ourselves as aspirational beings seeking to cultivate our humanity. Among the key ideas that emerged from the Enlightenment is the human drive toward ascendance and perfectibility.

Indeed, this propensity to seek a definition of ourselves as an ideal to be realized is itself a defining trait of our species. It underlies a perpetual unrest that gives rise to our ongoing search for purpose and higher meaning. Given the moral resonance that is embedded in the notion of “humanity,” the question of what makes us human becomes almost inseparable from a certain sense of moral obligation—namely, what ought we to do? Where does this obligation originate? And who and what are we responsible for?

In this timely series hosted at the elegant Morgan Library and Museum, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Steve Paulson engages with three leading thinkers—evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, cognitive psychologist Tania Lombrozo, and historian of philosophy Elie During—in a series of probing conversations to tackle the timeless yet elusive question of what it means to effectively realize our humanity.