ABSTRACT
Who am I? What does it mean to be human? Does the human creature have a soul, and if so, what do we mean by ‘soul’? What is the place of human beings in the universe? How do we differ from animals? Big, existential questions each and all. And they acquire new meaning in our time. Are we really so special as human beings? Astronomers have pointed out that we’re made of the same stuff as the rest of the universe. Evolutionary biologists have shown the close affinity between humans and animals. Neuroscientists see human behaviour as a product of physical processes in the brain. Cognitive and information scientists tell us that advanced intelligence isn’t reserved for humans. Humans, indeed, are capable of all kinds of things – not least in medicine, in control of nature and in energy generation. Even so, they are at war with each other, personally and in groups. What kind of creature is a human being – to be capable of so much evil? And what do we want to be as humans in view of the many and great evils we seem to perpetrate?
