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THE STUDY OF HUMANS AND HUMANITY, PAST AND
PRESENT
Written by Vanshika Kasturi
4th Semester Student at Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University
“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly but as
human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
– Nelson Mandela
Prehistory is the era that bring into being the appearance of the human being, about five million
years ago, and varnishes with the discovery of writing, about sixty millenaries ago. In the
Neolithic Age, which began about ten millenaries human beings lived in
villages. Human communities cultivated the land and raised cattle. In the course of this age
prehistoric humans moved from hunter/gatherer way of life to agriculture and food production.
They domesticated animals and cultivated cereal grains. They used polished hand axes, adzes
for ploughing and tilling the land and started to settle in the plains. Innovations were made not
only in tools but also in farming, home construction and art, as well as pottery, sewing and
weaving.i This is the turning point in human evolution. Now coming to the point, Human
speaks about one individual human being Whereas Humanity talks about to every
single human who ever exist or humans collectively.
Humanity also means the quality of humaneness or magnanimity. Humans are people whereas
Humanity is human nature i.e. humans in their true form. Thinking, emotions, feeling, acting,
etcetera are some of the natural qualities which make humans distinctive. Human nature is
downright different from the rest of the living beings in this flora and fauna. This very
individual nature of humans makes them to behave in a particular way. This instantly
recognizable nature helps us in leading a comfortable way of life; sometimes this very nature
also becomes an obstacle.
From the times bygone, ever since humans came into being, they have travelled a long journey
through different time zones first in search of a livelihood and shelter and later for a
comfortable and progressive livelihood. Humanity is not just upholding an amiable association
with each other, but also about creating a binding with the social fraternity. Humanity is the
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secret behind the togetherness among people which is the result of service to humanity that
brings hope and faith in those deprived of happiness of life.
Humanism and humanity are rarely understood concepts. Usually people confuse humanity
with vanity. But what they fail to understand is the core values behind it. The best way to
understand the very concept of humanity is to first understand yourself and find who you are.
This concept was promulgated by lot of luminaries including the father of the nation Mahatma
Gandhi.
“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:
I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
I shall fear only God.
I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
The offshoots of social sciences Psychology, sociology, economics, and anthropology focus
most of their attention mainly on humans and Human behavior, which
include behavior changes all the way through an individual's life, as they move through diverse
stages of life. Animal breeders knew that, types of human behavior in some way are influenced
by inheritance from parents, interestingly long before ‘Charles Darwin’ published his
book “On the Origin of Species” in 1858. Many scientists have made prodigious hard work to
understand the influence of genetics on human behavior. Genome-wide association studies are
emerging progressively with new methods to study the human behavioral genetics. Human
psychology and behavior is shaped by our evolutionary past which is studied by Evolutionary
psychologist who believes human behavior as the product of natural selection. According to
evolutionary psychology, humans try to enhance their social eminence as much as conceivable.
They generally do this by combating, augmentation of mammon or facilitating others in solving
their problems. A study on human behavior has divulged that of the people can be categorized
into four basic personality types: Optimistic, Pessimistic, Trusting and Envious. Conversely,
the latter of the four types, Covetous, is the most common.
But there is other side of the picture i.e. Human nature is evil. There is no qualm about that.
None of the horrors, barbarity and savagery of history could have transpired if humanity was
good. But just because a portion of humanity is black-hearted, it doesn’t mean humans can’t
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An Open Access Journal from The Law Brigade (Publishing) Group 189
be virtuous or compassionate. We are off the beaten track from being impeccable; moreover,
very frequently our humanity slips out. But we try. We try to help, to fight against the evil
caused by humanity. There is refurbishment in the universe. Even in the destruction, it’s there.
But the whole humanity is not righteous. Most of the Humanity is malevolent. Within ourselves
we are arrogant, greedy, hateful, and conspiratorial. And it is reflected our actions and thoughts.
The fact is, without a ethical yardstick most of us are savages.
In the words of Edgar Allan Poe, “I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human
exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active - not
more happy - nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago”. Hostilities, Paucity, Criminality,
Starvation, with all of the prejudices that prevail in today’s world, it can be easy to lose
confidence in humanity. We may question ourselves, “Why should we look after and provide
for the needs of our fellow beings if no one else does? Not anything ever appears to alter or get
any healthier, so we might as well agree to take the world as it is.” The words Plato sounds
perfect to answer this question. He says, “What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity.
We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the
first law of nature”.
Is the Human evolution a transformation for the healthier life? There has always been much
disagreement over this query, and at this time the squabbles seem more penetrating than ever,
perhaps for the reason that we are more conscious nowadays that civilization is of our creation
and for the reason that social change is taking place at a’ constantly cumulative rate. One of
the concerns in this current deliberation is the quality-of-life in contemporary social
order. Headway optimists accept as true that we are breathing better now than previous
generations, while pessimists contend that life is getting shoddier.
There is a school of thought which supports the notion that human life is enhanced with
accomplishments due to several achievements of modern society. One is the unparalleled
upsurge in the material standard of living; the mediocre citizen lives more comfortably now
than monarchs did a few centuries before. Another development that attracts the eye is that the
chance of untimely demises is significantly abridged; though smaller number of persons expire
in accidents and epidemics and smaller number are killed. A number of social ills have been
subsided, such as poverty, disproportion, illiteracy and repression. Now the pertinent question
is human life accomplishing betterment all the time?
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There is another school of thought that considers that human life is degrading and becoming
shoddier as it is characteristically driven by concern about contemporary social problems. One
kind of teething troubles is deviant manners, such as criminality, drug use and school refusal.
Another group of glitches seen to reduce the quality of life is social skirmishes, such as
employment disputes, ethnic predicaments and administrative intimidations. The decline of the
influence of ethics and morals, the family and the local community are also seen to make poor
the eminence of life of modern people, as are the increasing separation rates.
Whatsoever we comprehend ‘modern' in these days has to be fundamentally a part of pecuniary
system. We have got so branded and in sync with the monetary systems and sequences that all
the facets of our lives turn around it with enormous piecing together. Due to this connection,
perceptibly human principles are also going through a check. Merely those standards are
continuing, which accomplish the terms and conditions of the monetary system.
Human modernization does not have a standard mode; it is subject to the influence of traditional
culture, individual professions, and objective conditions. Generally speaking, the human
modernization at different stages and in different fields and sectors has different contents and
models.ii The conditions of modernity are in many ways profoundly better than those under
which the vast majority of humanity lived for more or less the whole of history. But, along with
its manifest benefits, modernity has brought a special range of troubles into our lives which we
would be wise to try to unpick and to understand.iii
We live in the anthropogenic age – the contemporary age of modern man; a stage of
development where humankind is currently the foremost power over our planet. At this
instant arises the question, with the rapid development of scientific civilization we are faced
with several problems common to all human races. How can all nations establish coexistence
and coprosperity? How can man maintain harmony with nature and how can man protect his
dignity? We should tackle these problems together by going beyond ethnic and national
backgrounds, because the problems are related to the whole earth itself rather than to only
individual nations. Man must try to solve them by uniting all nations into one spiritual
community with a common destiny. Whereas development as such should be carried out only
in developing countries, it is the responsibility of the developed nations to change the quality
of life. This endeavor should be always accompanied by the quest of how human beings can
be human. At the same time each country should review its own traditions and discover new
meanings in the traditional ways of life.
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People formerly led simple and humble lives, following their faith and conscience. It is in this
sphere that traditional culture will be able to contribute to the modernization process of each
nation.ivAs modernization has reached the furthest lands of the planet, ‘redundant population’
is produced everywhere and all localities have to bear the consequences of modernity’s global
triumph. They are now confronted with the need to seek – in vain, it seems – local solutions to
globally produced problems. The global spread of the modernity has given rise to growing
quantities of human beings who are deprived of adequate means of survival, but the planet is
fast running out of places to put them. Hence the new anxieties about ‘immigrants’ and ‘asylum
seekers’ and the growing role played by diffuse ‘security fears’ on the contemporary political
agenda.v
To conclude, one important question needs to be answered. Is humanity dying? The answer is
a big No. Humanity is not dying but before telling you the reason behind me saying it let me
first clear that what is humanity?
Human nature describes the manner in which humans react in a specific style according to the
circumstances which comprises ferociousness, possessiveness, resentment etc. These don't
come in the characterization of humanity so which one would you think through here? Did
individuals respond according to human nature or its humanity which they didn’t keep an eye
on?
Being a human is the skill of Humanity as humans are supposed to have empathy, fraternity
feeling, kindness, forbearance, handouts, bigheartedness but if someone is not having these
qualities then is he or she is not a human? No, they still are, as first humans came then came
the concept of humanity so it's not totally right to say like humanity is dying or humans are
behaving abnormally. So neither humanity is dying nor humans are behaving less human it's
all about State of mind that have transformed so far, now people just don't worry too much
about life. They merely do what they like, live the way they feel and like it being self-absorbed.
While look through a found a poem by Madai which reads:
Humanity is isolated
Humanity is blind these days
Humanity depends on stories
Humanity got news in spades
Humanity is lost with questions
Humanity in search for fate
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Humanity is needing answers
Humanity is really scared
Humanity is scarred forever
Humanity time to embrace
Humanity will come out stronger
Humanity had this before
The commandment of humanity has to be collected from the past, applied to the present, and
prepare for the future, we abide by this within us; anyone have to one's name but one of these
terms, has but a spillikin of the law of the ethical world.
REFERENCES
i
L e s l e y K e n n e d y , ‘The pre-Historic ages; how humans lived before written records’, Universal History
Archive.
ii
Human Modernization Theory, http://en.modernization.ac.cn/document.action?docid=25174 accessed on 04.
06. 2020
iii
What Is Wrong with Modern Times – and How to Regain Wisdom,
https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/what-is-wrong-with-modern-times-and-how-to-regain-wisdom/
accessed on 04. 06. 2020
iv
John W. Hall, `Changing Conception of the Modernization of Japan, 'ed. Marius B. Jansen, Changing
Japanese Attitudes toward Modernization, 1965, Princeton Univ. Press, p.19.
v
Zygmunt Bauman, ‘Wasted Lives: Modernity and Its Outcasts’, ISBN: 978-0-745-63164-6.
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