The Restoration of the Human

What is the person? Who is the human?

These are not abstract refrains for the philosopher. It seems clear that the ways in which we conceptualize and live out personhood and human dignity are central battlegrounds in our democracy and in the world at large. From long-standing debates around abortion, to foundational questions of race and human value, to the ways in which we conceive of our neighbour and how to interact with that neighbour, to technology and AI, to bioethics and end-of-life care, to our understanding of the natural world—very little if anything is untouched.

This particular issue is asking with some degree of urgency: How to restore the humanity of all in an age where the forces of dehumanization are on the rise? How do we humanize the conditions of our learning, child-rearing, labour, politics, neighbouring, worship, opining, eating, admiring, hosting, and more? What do we need to name and lament in our particular North American context, and who is leading the way of course-correction?