The concept of what it means to be a human being has been a topic of philosophical inquiry for centuries. Philosophers have explored the fundamental characteristics that identify life as a properly human life and have asked about its nature. Here are some key ideas from the search results:

• Human Nature: Human nature refers to the set of human features or processes that remain after subtraction of those picked out by concepts of the non-human. Philosophers have been interested in what differentiates human beings from other living things and generally from the natural world in which they live. The answer they have most often given to such questions is that the distinctive features of human nature have to do with the mental functioning of human beings – more specifically, with their intellectual and moral powers.

• Personhood: Personhood is a cognitive construct – a mental picture of an individual drawn by connecting the dots, which are the perceptual features or physical characteristics of the individual. Unlike ‘human’ – a concept grounded in the biological and physiological characteristics of the human animal – ‘person’ is something more esoteric, linked with one’s personality or intelligence, for example.

• Complexity: The human being is a complex matter, and many believe that just trying to understand life and what it means to be human is a futile undertaking. However, learning to recognize the good and evil forces of life helps us to make use of the good ones. To be human is to balance between hundreds of extremes.

In summary, the concept of what it means to be a human being is complex and multifaceted. Philosophers have explored the fundamental characteristics that identify life as a properly human life, and have often focused on the mental functioning of human beings, such as their intellectual and moral powers. Personhood is a cognitive construct that is linked with ones personality or intelligence, and is distinct from the biological and physiological characteristics of the human animal.