Self-reflection

Human self-reflection is the capacity of humans to exercise introspection and the willingness to learn more about their fundamental nature, purpose and essence. The earliest historical records demonstrate the great interest which humanity has had in itself.

Human self-reflection is related to the philosophy of consciousness, the topic of awareness, consciousness in general and the philosophy of mind.

Prehistoric notions about the status of humanity may be guessed by the etymology of ancient words for man. Latin homo (PIE *dʰǵʰm̥mō) means "of the earth, earthling," probably in opposition to "celestial" beings. Greek ἂνθρωπος (mycenaean *anthropos) means "low-eyed," again probably contrasting with a divine perspective.

From the 3rd millennium Old Kingdom of Egypt, belief in the eternal afterlife of the human Ka is documented. From the earliest times, man made out a claim of dominance of humanity alongside radical pessimism because of the frailty and brevity of human life (In the Hebrew Bible, for example, dominion of man is promised in Genesis 1:28, but the author of Ecclesiastes bewails the vanity of all human effort).

Protagoras made the famous claim that "Man is the measure of all things; of what is, that it is; of what is not, that it is not". Socrates advocated for all humans to "know thyself," and gave the (doubtlessly tongue-in-cheek) definition of humans as "featherless bipeds" (Plato, Politicus). More serious is Aristotle's description of man as the "communal animal" (ζῶον πολιτικόν), i.e., emphasizing society-building as a central trait of human nature, and "thought bearer animal" (ζῶον λόγον ἔχον, animal rationale), a term that also inspired the species' taxonomy, Homo sapiens.

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