WHAT IS IT TO BE HUMAN:

Are the Neanderthals Entitled to Human Rights?

One of the most notable theories that has emerged in the

scientific world is that humans came from a series of evolution where
apes were considered to have been our first ancestors This has
always been subject of countless debates between religion and
science. However, the main question is whether the term “human
beings” shall only pertain to modern day humans, the Homo Sapiens,
or shall it also extend to the species where we came from,
particularly, the Neanderthals, and as such, are they entitled to
human rights? This paper shall discuss two points supposing that the
Neanderthals still live with us this day. The first part shall be the
structure of the Neanderthal lifestyle and the second part shall be the
foundations and thoughts on what is it to be human.

The Neanderthals

The beginning of the emergence of humans can be traced back

millions of years ago. With the help of science many fossils were
found that were of great help to study our own lifestyle and structure.
Although, these were only shards of truth and much of the story is
guesswork. But this has given us the understanding of how the early
humans lived.1

Humans came from the species Hominins. From

Sahelanthropus tchadensis to homo sapiens, there were 18 links
before we have evolved to homo sapiens.2 Although there have been
countless debates regarding human evolution, the Neanderthals were
considered the closest relative of the modern-day humans. From
skulls to bodily structure, to which it also includes the tools used,
there has always been a resemblance with humans. 3

The Neanderthals lived during the Ice Age. They often stay at
caves since the weather was harsh. This was the reason why they
were called the original cavemen. Neanderthals were originally from
Africa but migrated to Eurasia. 4

The structure of the Neanderthals is to help them properly

adapt to the cold weather. Their stocky bodily figure is a proof of this.
They had wide nose that helped them warm the cold air. Their skulls
were as big as the homo sapiens and their brains grew larger than
that of the latter.5

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 In order to survive, Neanderthals had skills in crafting weapons
that led them to successfully hunt animals that could feed them for
months. 6

Their extinction, however, has not been fully explained. It can

be said that when the Ice Age came to an end, they have vanished
due to climate change. But the most accepted theory is that they
have interbred with the Homo Sapiens until eventually, their line has
passed and a new link has been born.7

The Neanderthals, however, were not simply hunters and

nomads. There were times where the Neanderthals stayed in a place
and settled for long that they have been able to establish a
community. 8

One of the greatest discoveries based from the carved bones of

the Neanderthals is that they lived in nuclear families. Studies
suggest that they took care of the sick and the elderly and tended to
those who could not take care of themselves. They even buried their
dead. Thus, it is safe to say that with these traits they are
compassionate.9

This makes them distinct from animals.

The Philosophy of Man

The philosophy of man has its roots as early as the ancient

times in Greece where philosophers have often debated and thought
what exactly it is to be human.

Protagoras, one of the philosophers of Ancient Greece, a

Sophist had a bold claim stating that “man is the measure of all
things.”10 Thus, for Protagoras and the other Sophists, man is nothing
but the sum-total of sensations and emotions. 11

However, the coming of Socrates has challenged such claim.

The Sophists have failed to grasp what it really is to be human. Thus,
Socrates said “Know thyself.” For Socrates, man is more than just
emotions and desires. What constitutes man’s nature is his wisdom
and thought. Man is moral and knowledge is virtue for it is only in
knowing one’s self can man see his nature.12

Plato has followed the footsteps of Socrates and he also

contributed that man is not more than just a total of emotions and
desires. Man is rational and has the propensity for morality; living a
life of constant reflection and reason endowed with virtues. 13 Aristotle
agreed to such and made a claim that the ideal man is the virtuous
man. 14

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 The Chinese Philosophers also made claims as to what it is to
be human. Meng Zi has then stated that man is intrinsically good and
that education can help him become the Junzi (the virtuous man).
The Junzi must always be guided by reason and compassion. 15

However, in all of the history of philosophy, the ideas of the

Stoics and that of Kant has paved a way to fully understand what it is
to be human. The Stoics has believed that the ideal human life is
piety and dutifulness and must keep in view the good of the society,
and not for the sake of self-preservation alone. 16

Kant has given one of the most accepted fact about being a
man. According to him, man as a biological being is possessed by
feelings and emotions, desires and instincts. But as a rational being,
he has control over them. Man is a rational being when he is guided
by controlling his animal desires. 17

Although there have been different conceptions as to what it is

to be human, the conclusion of it all, however, is that the nature of
man is being rational. Man is not just a total of emotions. Animals
have emotions, they have desires, and they need to survive. If man is
controlled by desires, then we are but animals, too.

What makes man distinct from animals is the ability to think and
the ability to control his desires. Man has the freedom of the will.
What makes man distinct from animals is that they have the sense of
right and wrong.

Man’s true freedom is in his acting on the categorical

imperative, the principle of duty for the sake of duty; the good of the
society over self-preservation 18; the ability to know what is right from
wrong that gives birth to compassion.

Neanderthals are Human Beings

The Neanderthals are not animals since they are more than just
desires. They were not hunting just so because their stomachs
crumble but they are hunting just so they could feed the community
they live in. This is indeed one proof of them being rational; that self-
preservation is lesser than communal preservation.

The Neanderthals, as discovered, tends to those in need and

even cared for the sick. This is compassion. Animals also tend to
their kind but they give way more over their desires than of the
community.

With this in mind, the Neanderthals are indeed human beings

who is guided by rationality and morality and know what is right from

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wrong simply by the fact that, living in a community, they know how to
care for the sick and the elderly.

If the Neanderthals co-exist with us until today, they are entitled

to human rights simply because they are humans. Human rights arise
by the fact that one is a human being.

“Human rights are inherent in all human beings.” 19 Jose Diokno

even added that “human rights… are the essence of man and they
are what makes man more human.” 20

Thus, if the Neanderthals are still with us today, they shall also
be guaranteed of the protection provided for in the Constitution based
on the sole fact that they pass the requirement of what it is to be
human: that of rationality and the propensity for moral ascendancy.

With this, being human is not merely about the bodily structure
but that of the sense of rationality, morality, and dutifulness.

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1

Alice Roberts, Evolution: The Human Story, (Dorling Kindersley Limited, 2011), p. 10.
2
Cf. Ibid., pp. 62-160.
3
Jessie Szalay, Neanderthals: Facts About Our Extinct Human Relatives
<https://www.livescience.com/28036-neanderthals-facts-about-our-extinct-human-relatives.> (visited
17 September 2020)
4

Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Rf. Evolution: The Human Story, 190.
10

The Place of Man in Western Philosophical Thought: A Brief Historical Survey, p. 1

<https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/66033/5/05_chapter%201.pdf> (Visited 24
September 2020)
11

Ibid., p. 1
12

Ibid., p. 1
13

Ibid., p. 2
14

Louise Ropes Loomis, Aristotle, (Roslyn, New York: Walter J. Black, Inc., 1943), p. 183
15

D.C. Lau, Mencius, (Great Britain: The Chaucer Press, 1970), p. 160
16

The Place of Man in Western Philosophical Thought, p. 3.

17

Ibid., p. 7.
18

Ibid.
19

United Nations High Commission on Human Rights.

20

Jose Diokno, Human Rights Makes Man Human