Analysis Of Judith Butler s Beside Oneself Essay

How do we define â€Å"human?† This is a question that has become more difficult and bewildering to answer as time passes day by day. Judith butler tries to answer this age-old question of how we define â€Å"human†. In Butler’s essay, â€Å"Beside Oneself† it demonstrates the predominance of sexual orientations and how the role of society has influenced human’s lives. In turn, the essay asks many questions that challenges the readers to think critically and look within outside the norm and interpret for themselves what one believe the answer for Butler’s ideology. However, Butler failed to define clearly the most important question, how do we define â€Å"human?† Although, Butler made the claim that to be defined as human is to be part of the society and be accepted into the social norms, humans should not be based on standards of being accepted by the society. Instead humans should be defined by humanity (caring for those in need), and the freedom to critically think for ourselves. It is very common to confuse the word â€Å"human† and â€Å"person†. One way to address the definition of human is to know the difference between the word human and a person. The difference between human, and person is that human is referred to of, or consisting of people of, relating to the social aspect of people (dictionary.com). A person is a human being in the form of adult or child, and distinguished differently from an animal or a thing (dictionary.com). Butler uses the terminology â€Å"human† rather than a â€Å"person†