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What Is a Human? Language, Mind, and Culture
In a sweeping synthesis of new research in a number of different disciplines, this book argues that we humans are not who we think we are. As he explores the interconnections between cutting-edge work in bioanthropology, evolutionary biology, neuroscience, human language and learning, and beyond, James Paul Gee advances, also, a personal philosophy of language, learning, and culture, informed by his decades of work across linguistics and the social sciences. Gee argues that our schools, institutions, legal systems, and societies are designed for creatures that do not exist, thus resulting in multiple, interacting crises, such as climate change, failing institutions, and the rise of nationalist nationalism. As Gee constructs an understanding of the human that takes into account our social, collective, and historical nature, as established by recent research, he inspires readers to reflect for themselves on the very question of who we are—a key consideration for anyone interested in society, government, schools, health, activism, culture and diversity, or even just survival.
- GenresLinguisticsAudiobook
276 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2020
10 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
James Paul Gee
64 books58 followersJames Gee is a researcher who has worked in psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, bilingual education, and literacy. Gee is currently the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University. Gee is a faculty affiliate of the Games, Learning, and Society group at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is a member of the National Academy of Education.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 21, 2024
Endlessly fascinating, this treasure trove of wisdom easily takes the place as my absolute favorite non-fiction read of 2024 (and likely beyond).
Written by a retired academic, the author’s quest for answers sees him following connections crossing over into so many fields the result is a veritable cornucopia of “things to think about” — for this reader, a boundless and expansive treat for the mind.
So what, after all this, — is a human?
We humans are systems and processes, biological and chemical (“transacting swarms”). We are composed of multitudes - our own as well as alien (microorganism-based) DNA. We have a brain that keeps us cozy with a concocted “self” and illusions of free-will, atop a deep and unfathomable unconscious.
We are animals - mostly the same as our biological kith and kin (and even the lowly termite). We have evolved language, culture, artifacts — to keep us safe, mark our status, and allow us to “belong”. In so doing we have unleashed the opposite, evolving our domesticated world into structures increasingly discordant with our very natures (we are self-created “monsters”).
And yet. We are, after all, made of the same “stuff” as all living beings. We have the ability to see into a vast pool of “connective-ness” with our physical surroundings. Symbolically, through “specific universals” we can find, communicate and embrace both our uniqueness and our commonality, releasing an enacted morality that allows us all (and our entire planet) to flourish.
I adored this book, — its passion, inclusiveness, fearlessness, and incredible insights (all of which is, hopefully, not a minute too late).
A great big thank you to the Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
Written by a retired academic, the author’s quest for answers sees him following connections crossing over into so many fields the result is a veritable cornucopia of “things to think about” — for this reader, a boundless and expansive treat for the mind.
So what, after all this, — is a human?
We humans are systems and processes, biological and chemical (“transacting swarms”). We are composed of multitudes - our own as well as alien (microorganism-based) DNA. We have a brain that keeps us cozy with a concocted “self” and illusions of free-will, atop a deep and unfathomable unconscious.
We are animals - mostly the same as our biological kith and kin (and even the lowly termite). We have evolved language, culture, artifacts — to keep us safe, mark our status, and allow us to “belong”. In so doing we have unleashed the opposite, evolving our domesticated world into structures increasingly discordant with our very natures (we are self-created “monsters”).
And yet. We are, after all, made of the same “stuff” as all living beings. We have the ability to see into a vast pool of “connective-ness” with our physical surroundings. Symbolically, through “specific universals” we can find, communicate and embrace both our uniqueness and our commonality, releasing an enacted morality that allows us all (and our entire planet) to flourish.
I adored this book, — its passion, inclusiveness, fearlessness, and incredible insights (all of which is, hopefully, not a minute too late).
A great big thank you to the Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
February 7, 2022
This book should be a bestseller. It's that good! When I read Alexander McCall Smith, I always feel I become a better person ... kinder and more thoughtful. I had the same feeling reading this book, which seems most about understanding who we are as humans, so that we can become better instances of humanity. It has gotten me closer to understanding what motivates people I vehemently disagree with and is giving me a lot to think about going forward as to how we can come together as people and end the toxic divisiveness that is threatening our body politic. It doesn't provide an absolute blueprint for that, but it does provide a path forward, some question and next steps individuals can consider.
My absolute favorite concept from the book is Gee's idea of "Specific Universals." Here is a taste: "I am arguing that for me the foundation of morality is the capacity and willingness to have and seek out experiences that allow you to discover specific universals. This is the willingness and capacity to learn more about yourself, humans, and life from the very specific distinctiveness (even initial 'foreignness') of things like poems, pigs, other people, and the ground." To find in specific beings or things a universal connection ... akin to walking in someone else's moccasins or John Donne's "principle of universal analogy." All things are connected. This disposition is at the root of compassion. It's the center of Eugenia Collier's magnificent short story "Marigolds," and the massive novel by Richard Powers, The Overstory, which incidentally Gee lists in his excellent bibliography. I plan to buy and read some of the books he cites.
I like Gee as a writer too because he has humility and isn't afraid to reveal where he is vulnerable. He spent most of his life as an academic, but there is something down to earth and real in his narrative voice. This isn't academic writing, much as it displays the command of language and literature, of vast reading, that marks the academic life. It's an honest book presenting an honest search for understanding the human condition, and a passionate plea for saving ourselves (and those other animals we share this planet with) before it's too late. You'll also learn a bit of science in the reading as well.
I can't recommend What is a Human? highly enough!
My absolute favorite concept from the book is Gee's idea of "Specific Universals." Here is a taste: "I am arguing that for me the foundation of morality is the capacity and willingness to have and seek out experiences that allow you to discover specific universals. This is the willingness and capacity to learn more about yourself, humans, and life from the very specific distinctiveness (even initial 'foreignness') of things like poems, pigs, other people, and the ground." To find in specific beings or things a universal connection ... akin to walking in someone else's moccasins or John Donne's "principle of universal analogy." All things are connected. This disposition is at the root of compassion. It's the center of Eugenia Collier's magnificent short story "Marigolds," and the massive novel by Richard Powers, The Overstory, which incidentally Gee lists in his excellent bibliography. I plan to buy and read some of the books he cites.
I like Gee as a writer too because he has humility and isn't afraid to reveal where he is vulnerable. He spent most of his life as an academic, but there is something down to earth and real in his narrative voice. This isn't academic writing, much as it displays the command of language and literature, of vast reading, that marks the academic life. It's an honest book presenting an honest search for understanding the human condition, and a passionate plea for saving ourselves (and those other animals we share this planet with) before it's too late. You'll also learn a bit of science in the reading as well.
I can't recommend What is a Human? highly enough!
September 4, 2024
Michael Puttonen has a lovely narrative voice. I appreciate how he approached this book with his performance in the audiobook.
However, the work itself was not engaging enough to keep my attention. Often the writer will arrive at a point, define the point with a more accurate linguistic term than what is commonly used, build up a detailed metaphor to show the term in practice and then repeat the thesis in a myriad of ways to drive that definition home. However, conclusions felt like an afterthought when those arrived and the meandering nature of this expository approach left me -- I really hate to say this -- bored.
For example, communities are interesting when described as "transacting swarms" and how that could be illustrated when it comes to insects and how they work in community, but that does not really delve into what that means for humans when those transactions result in the oppression of those without social advantage (i.e. how does a transacting swarm thrive when subjected to classism, racism, or sexism to oppress portions of the swarm for the short term benefit of a smaller portion of the swarm). If the point was made, then I missed it over the repetitive use of "transacting swarm" throughout the chapter as the point was driven home over and over again of how this definition works to help explain a facet of human nature.
In the books, I got as far as the concept of "fetish" as an alternate, non-sexual way of describing the mechanics of belief systems. It reached a passage about the value "fetish" attributed to money, where the narrator had to repeat several common sayings about money (i.e. "Time is Money." "It takes Money to Make Money", "Money is power.", etc etc.)... and that's when I realized I was bored. I could not make it past chapter 7. Perhaps there are great insights toward the middle and end of the book -- things that could connect these ideas to the seemingly chaotic nature of humans -- but I was not engaged in the meandering path enough to do so.
If this is a subject of study that interests you, if you are familiar with the author and his theories, if you have an objective, logical mind and wish for a new view on terminology in how some human concepts can be described in more interesting ways -- this may be the book for you. The narrator is certainly worth it.
However, if you see the fascinating cover and check it out as a subjective mood reader like me, you may be bored. This is not the sort of non-fiction book you'd read as you would an interesting podcast on an obscure topic. Nor are the concepts too complex to wrap your head around. It's simply... rather detached and meandering. It might leave you wondering what the point is to consider human concepts with different terminology.
However, the work itself was not engaging enough to keep my attention. Often the writer will arrive at a point, define the point with a more accurate linguistic term than what is commonly used, build up a detailed metaphor to show the term in practice and then repeat the thesis in a myriad of ways to drive that definition home. However, conclusions felt like an afterthought when those arrived and the meandering nature of this expository approach left me -- I really hate to say this -- bored.
For example, communities are interesting when described as "transacting swarms" and how that could be illustrated when it comes to insects and how they work in community, but that does not really delve into what that means for humans when those transactions result in the oppression of those without social advantage (i.e. how does a transacting swarm thrive when subjected to classism, racism, or sexism to oppress portions of the swarm for the short term benefit of a smaller portion of the swarm). If the point was made, then I missed it over the repetitive use of "transacting swarm" throughout the chapter as the point was driven home over and over again of how this definition works to help explain a facet of human nature.
In the books, I got as far as the concept of "fetish" as an alternate, non-sexual way of describing the mechanics of belief systems. It reached a passage about the value "fetish" attributed to money, where the narrator had to repeat several common sayings about money (i.e. "Time is Money." "It takes Money to Make Money", "Money is power.", etc etc.)... and that's when I realized I was bored. I could not make it past chapter 7. Perhaps there are great insights toward the middle and end of the book -- things that could connect these ideas to the seemingly chaotic nature of humans -- but I was not engaged in the meandering path enough to do so.
If this is a subject of study that interests you, if you are familiar with the author and his theories, if you have an objective, logical mind and wish for a new view on terminology in how some human concepts can be described in more interesting ways -- this may be the book for you. The narrator is certainly worth it.
However, if you see the fascinating cover and check it out as a subjective mood reader like me, you may be bored. This is not the sort of non-fiction book you'd read as you would an interesting podcast on an obscure topic. Nor are the concepts too complex to wrap your head around. It's simply... rather detached and meandering. It might leave you wondering what the point is to consider human concepts with different terminology.
August 3, 2024
3.25 stars
🌕🌕🌕🌘
🎯 Target Audience
- People who are interested in what makes us human different from/similar to other species
- Folks who can be open-minded to hear controversial points
🧠 My thoughts
I chose this book because the topic was interesting to me. I have always wanted to read a book on this topic that isn’t really heavy and too much in-depth. This book satisfied the criteria. However, sadly, the book didn’t speak to me. The points the author made were pretty valid and worth my time but maybe the writing style disappointed me. Nevertheless, I had to admit that this author spoke the truth. The book was very open-minded and wasn’t afraid to make controversial points and I really appreciated that.
👍 What I like
- Interesting and valid points
- The tone of voice sounds honest
👎 What I don't like
- Somehow the author loses my attention all the time
- The book is quite dry
Thanks NetGalley, Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks publisher, and the authors for a great advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!
🌕🌕🌕🌘
🎯 Target Audience
- People who are interested in what makes us human different from/similar to other species
- Folks who can be open-minded to hear controversial points
🧠 My thoughts
I chose this book because the topic was interesting to me. I have always wanted to read a book on this topic that isn’t really heavy and too much in-depth. This book satisfied the criteria. However, sadly, the book didn’t speak to me. The points the author made were pretty valid and worth my time but maybe the writing style disappointed me. Nevertheless, I had to admit that this author spoke the truth. The book was very open-minded and wasn’t afraid to make controversial points and I really appreciated that.
👍 What I like
- Interesting and valid points
- The tone of voice sounds honest
👎 What I don't like
- Somehow the author loses my attention all the time
- The book is quite dry
Thanks NetGalley, Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks publisher, and the authors for a great advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!
July 3, 2024
Well, James Paul Gee, what have we here. Gee is a well-known figure in game studies, for better or for worse. How does going meta fare for him, as he enters his twilight years ... after moving into the boondocks for a final stint in animal husbandry? Hit or miss, but somehow engaging and beguiling, despite. I'm hard-pressed to summarize what this is about. I still don't grasp Gee's version of "fetish," which he uses liberally throughout. People are flawed, people are weird, people are animals, both like and unlike any other. That last list ... a treatise for the greatest evil our world has ever seen ... (I mean we humans, of course) ... and so, where to from there? I look to the future with trepidation. And eye my casket of games in the corner. (I thought it was funny that he named-dropped Felicia Day.) I'm not sure if I learned anything new ... this is more pseudo-philosophical musings with a tinge of exasperation and no small amount of resignation.
Thank you to NetGalley and Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks for the advance copy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks for the advance copy.
May 15, 2021
This is a fantastic book. I have enjoyed James Paul Gee's academic work for many years - he has always come across as a kind-hearted, open-minded, unpretentious, forward-thinking, egalitarian presence, which is not altogether standard in academia. What Is A Human? confirms that impression, and deepens it, as a newly retired JPG stops needing to wrap his ideas up in disciplinary terms and just tells it as it is.
This prompts him to introduce a series of new ideas that deserve to be included in any well-meaning discussion of how we might start to address the mess we've made of the world and the roles we have allowed ourselves in it.
Whether JPG's just-so story of how humans became human is 100% accurate, we'll never know, and I don't imagine for a moment he cares. What we can say with confidence is that it contains much of suggestive truth and that, by adopting its guiding trajectory, we will do a great deal better than we are now.
This prompts him to introduce a series of new ideas that deserve to be included in any well-meaning discussion of how we might start to address the mess we've made of the world and the roles we have allowed ourselves in it.
Whether JPG's just-so story of how humans became human is 100% accurate, we'll never know, and I don't imagine for a moment he cares. What we can say with confidence is that it contains much of suggestive truth and that, by adopting its guiding trajectory, we will do a great deal better than we are now.
July 2, 2024
This book challenges our understanding of human nature, drawing on cutting-edge research in biology, neuroscience, and social sciences. It argues that our current societal structures are built on outdated assumptions about human behavior, leading to crises like climate change and political instability. The author proposes a new understanding of humanity that embraces our collective and historical nature, urging readers to reexamine who we are and how we can create a more sustainable future.
This is a fascinating book that’s fun to read. It doesn’t really offer solutions, but it does ask some interesting questions. The audiobook narration was enjoyable.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
This is a fascinating book that’s fun to read. It doesn’t really offer solutions, but it does ask some interesting questions. The audiobook narration was enjoyable.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.
July 3, 2024
Thank you, NetGalley and Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks for this advanced audiobook. This was a fascinating study on what is it to be a human. James Gee gives thought to how humans relate to other animals. He also speaks on how we think of ourselves in relation to each other and how this then affects politics and our environment. He brought up that humans have always innately thought they were better than one another based on arbitrary things, like eye color or what sports team they follow. It was an interesting and fast read.
August 30, 2024
I chose this book because it seemed really interesting, and certain sections of the book were compelling, but… I found it mostly really dry! I think part of that might have been the writing style, which was repetitive and sort of odd. In the first section the writer keeps saying “mound” and I found it really distracting. The author did make some strong points, and there were a lot of things I really agreed with, sort of universal truths about us right now, but I think it just wasn’t for me.
August 16, 2024
What a great book!
December 7, 2024
What Is a Human? is a fascinating exploration of humanity, weaving together insights from neuroscience, biology, linguistics, and philosophy. Using first principles, Gee offers sharp, thought-provoking reflections on human nature, challenging readers to rethink norms and explore the complexities of what it means to be human.
Gee's unique perspective, shaped by his background in linguistics and early priesthood training, enriches his analysis. The book is both an academic study and a deeply personal journey, drawing on a lifetime of learning and reflection.
A standout feature of Gee’s work is his rejection of simplistic definitions of humanity. He argues humans are not just physical beings but complex creatures balancing individuality and social interdependence. His metaphor of termite mounds highlights this duality, portraying humans as both distinct individuals and integral parts of a greater "swarm."
Gee also critiques mechanistic materialism, offering the idea of "spiritomes" to explore the spiritual dimensions of human life. While not for everyone, this concept adds an intriguing layer to his argument.
As a linguist, Gee delves into how language shapes thought and perception. His discovery of poetry later in life adds a personal touch, showcasing how language unlocks new ways of understanding. His admiration for poets like Emily Dickinson emphasizes the power of subjective, internal experiences in defining humanity.
I found the book to a useful read for anyone curious about the deeper questions of human existence. I certainly recommend it to anyone that ponders these notions; you will be rewarded.
Gee's unique perspective, shaped by his background in linguistics and early priesthood training, enriches his analysis. The book is both an academic study and a deeply personal journey, drawing on a lifetime of learning and reflection.
A standout feature of Gee’s work is his rejection of simplistic definitions of humanity. He argues humans are not just physical beings but complex creatures balancing individuality and social interdependence. His metaphor of termite mounds highlights this duality, portraying humans as both distinct individuals and integral parts of a greater "swarm."
Gee also critiques mechanistic materialism, offering the idea of "spiritomes" to explore the spiritual dimensions of human life. While not for everyone, this concept adds an intriguing layer to his argument.
As a linguist, Gee delves into how language shapes thought and perception. His discovery of poetry later in life adds a personal touch, showcasing how language unlocks new ways of understanding. His admiration for poets like Emily Dickinson emphasizes the power of subjective, internal experiences in defining humanity.
I found the book to a useful read for anyone curious about the deeper questions of human existence. I certainly recommend it to anyone that ponders these notions; you will be rewarded.
October 18, 2024
As someone who is interested in the study of humans on both an individual and a collective scale, this didn't tell me too much I didn't already know. However, I did find the concept and history of fetishes absolutely fascinating, because I did not know the origin of the term and generally only ever associated it with people who like feet too much (amongst other weird things). I felt it could have gone a lot deeper, so now I am seeking out supplemental information on the origins of consciousness and whatnot. This is a good starting point on the subject of humans, however. I didn't find it overly academic, either. It's very digestible to a broad range of humans! (Just... maybe don't take that last sentence literally.)
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook!
Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the audiobook!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews