What does it mean to be human?

IMPORTANT NOTE: This assignment is due Monday, Dec. 6 at 11:59pm–this is a firm deadline since I am now under pressure to get grades in. This assignment is worth 5% of the final course grade.
Directions:
For this final writing assignment, return to the question I asked at the beginning of the semester: What does it mean to be human? Now consider how your answer to this question might have changed since the beginning of the semester considering some of these issues and topics we’ve explored, and some of the discussions we/you have had. Consider the semester’s readings, viewings, discussion or assignments, especially those with which you found yourself engaged or interested. Try to ground your discussion in one, perhaps two, of these readings, viewings assignments or discussions, anything that prompted you to consider larger questions about who we are as humans, as a culture or cultures, the human condition, and so on. This is a big question, and focusing through one or two things will help keep your discussion focused and more specific. Please don’t try to cover all the content in the semester!

No use of other sources or dictionary definitions please; use your own ideas, of which you have plenty from what I have seen. I’m serious about not using any sources other than those that were assigned in this class!

This is not supposed to be a “what I learned this semester” list, but rather you showing where you found yourself engaged and thoughtful, and where you found insight into something you feel might be significant about what it means to be human in the world today.

Formality & Organization: While I am calling this an essay, I actually don’t expect a formal introduction and conclusion unless that feels useful for you; do, however, try to be as clear and grammatical in language as you can. Use natural, logical paragraph breaks where a topic changes or you take a different focus or direct your readers’ attention to something slightly different. Since this is sort of a “then and now,” that implies that a two-part structure could work well.

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