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Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

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So You Think You're Human: A Brief History of Humankind

by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (Author), Illustrated (Illustrator)

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You think you're human. But what does that mean? How can humanity be defined? Felipe Fernandez-Armesto takes us on an enlightening journey through the history of humankind to reveal the challenges to our most fundamental belief - that we are, and have always been, human. Chimps and humans are objectively so alike that an anthropologist from Mars might classify them together; advances in artificial intelligence mean that humans no longer have exclusive access to reason, consciousness and imagination; developments in genetics threaten humanity with an uncertain future. The harder we cling to the concept of humanity, the more slippery it becomes. But if it breaks down altogether, what will this mean for human values, human rights, and the defence of human dignity? So You Think You're Human? confronts these problems from a historical perspective, showing how our current understanding of what it means to be human has been shaken by new challenges from science and philosophy. FFA shows how our concept of humankind has changed over time, tracing its faltering expansion to its present limits and arguing that these limits are neither fixed or scientifically verifiable. Controversially, he proposes that we have further to go in developing our concept of humankind and that we need to rethink it as a matter of urgency.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A versatile and wide-ranging historian, Fernandez-Armesto turns philosophical in this short essay, arguing that something most people could confidently define, a human being, becomes problematic when examining history. He propels himself into the subject from this assertion: "Humanity is in peril--not from the familiar menace of 'mass destruction' and ecological overkill--but from a conceptual threat." This strong thesis culminates with the author's discourse on the incipient erosion by genetics and robotics of who (or what) qualifies as a member of humanity. It begins with Fernandez-Armesto's analysis of a less threatening aspect of the limits of human identity: where we have historically drawn the line between humans and animals. He then considers a variation of the same issue, debate within paleoanthropology about which hominids are ancestral to humans, a discussion that moves smoothly to attributes common in historical definitions of humankind: anatomy, tool use, language, and culture. Eminently readable, this is still a profound inquiry with ethical implications for such issues of the day as abortion. Gilbert Taylor
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Review

`Review from other book by this author He makes history a smart art' The Times, for Millennium`One of those rare books that will change people's minds' John Roberts, for Millennium`He is in a class of his own for serious scholarship' The Spectator, for Millennium`A superb storyteller, with a barrel-full of anecdotes and a language as finely textured as many a novelist' Independent on Sunday, for Civilizations`Enthusiastic readers of popular history have come to expect the author of Millennium to deliver a work filled with wonders, important insights, wit and outrageous opinion. A marvelous new work.' Publishers Weekly on Civilizations`I have never read a work so intellectually deft on so ambitious a subject' Lisa Jardine, on Truth: A History`Impressive and innovative. Few, if any, authors could (or would dare to) cover such a massive topic ' Dr Mark Ridley, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford on So You Think You're Human?`Brilliant. In this short tour de force he sets the debate about what it means to be human in an historical perspective-something that has not been done before-and does so in a way that is arrestingly readable. He has used his historical erudition and stylistic grace to produce a little gem that contains a rich array of fascinating and exotic historical examples ' John Gray (author of Straw Dogs) on So You Think You're Human?`a fascinating book, refreshingly slim, full of interest and food for thought' Spectator