Who is US?
Who is us? What defines us? What makes us us, in comparison to the others??
First try:
I am us. Clearly, I am I. And whoever is not I, is not us. Their worlds are
different, I cannot feel what they feel. Hence, they are not I. And they are
not us.
However, why do we then extend the rights and duties we oblige from ourselves
to others? Why do I feel that (some of) my family, friends, etc. deserve the
same things I deserve? By extending these rights (and duties) to others, it
becomes clear that I is not us. I form part of us. But I do not define the
entire us.
Second try:
My family is us. Clearly, I form part of us. My family is the extension of
myself, and I extend the rights to them that I want for me.
Yet again, why do I extend the rights to friends, and sometimes even to
strangers? Why do I often feel bad when I do not extend these rights to
someone? Besides, what should the defining criterium be if family were us? The
definition of us if the family XYZ. Why not some other family? The mere
arbitrariness of that definition of us makes me shiver.
Third (and fourth to tenth) try:
My nation is us. (My religion is us. My skin color is us. My region is us. My
gender is us. My political party is us. My social class is us. My blood type is
us.)
These are all extensions of I to some set of humans that share certain traits
with me. However, in each of these definitions, the others are very much like
us. Is someone becoming us if he moves to my region, nation? Converts to my
religion? Adapts the same gender? It seems that all these classifications imply
that there are others that are much more like me than some members of my group.
Eleventh try:
All humanity is us.
This seems like a reasonable assumption, immune to all the objections former
definitions of us called for. However, what is the defining criterium?
Consciousness? What would we say about a human that is not conscious? Would it
not be us? A human that walks like us, breathes like us, talks like us, feels
like us. But doing all these things unconsciously. Would it seize being us?
Probably not, in particular, if we consider that the degree of consciousness
varies among humans.
The ability to feel pain and joy? What would we say about a human that cannot
experience pain or joy? Would it stop being us? Would we apply different laws
to them? Would it seize being us? Many people experience both pain and joy very
differently. Who am I to judge?
Being alive? What would we say about a human that is not alive? Would it stop
being us? What we stop extending the same rights to a person that is not alive
than to ourselves? Apparently so…… What does that imply?
Twelfth try:
Everything alive is us.