If you think of yourself as an individual what makes you distinct from another?

Question

what makes us similar is we all think, have a body,brain,mind use I me and my when we refer to ourselfs. We each have a name, opinions, beliefs etc. We all identify with soemthing and we all have feelings. We are full of each others knowledge and we all pass it around,claiming bits as we do it. So with all that aside what makes you say im an individual?
Do we really know what an individual is?
Its original meaning has mutated.
Individual comes from indivisable,
something that cannot be divided.

Answer 1

Hey aliassotu,

There are many things that make me different. My name, my age, my thoughts, my Genealogy, my job, my likes, my dislikes, my house, my choices, my fingerprints, my retinas.

You could argue, each of these equally makes me the same as others. But it is the subtle differences in Genes, Environment, Speech, experiences, childhood that create unique people.

Answer 2

I think there is a diference between being an individual and having individuality, we are all individuals, we look, talk and sound different, we have different tastes and opinions, yet when it comes to individuality, many people feel uncomfortable about breaking the norm. We are in short sheep, individuals with an communal thought and working process, we refuse to leave the fold.
I am proud of the fcat that I am bothand individual and have individuality, I refuse to be like others, I do not acceprt the norms, I challenge all opinions and question everything.
The trouble with being an invidual is that it is impossible, as humans we are social creatures, we need companionship, we need converstaion, we need other human interaction for we rely on others for happiness, acceptance, creation, and sustinance, and evn primal needs such as food, water, clothing, heat.
A famous 16th century philosopher once said "We are never an island unto ourselves"

Answer 3

we are all the same in the sense that we are humans and have ideas, beliefs, needs etc. We are same because we share same DNA structureed genes.
What makes us individual is the story we have to tell about ourselves. If everyone were asked to tell a story about their lives, no two stories of the 6 billion told will be the same. That is because our upbringing and the way we have lead and controlled life, and the things we have seen, experienced and the cirumstances we have been in are different to other. That is what individuality is.

Two people can have the same belief and idea and they can be catogorised (i.e. race, religion etc) but not two people are ever the same.

The end.

Answer 4

we dont all think in the same way, we dont all have the same body, brain or mind; some people refer to themselves in the third person. we have different names, opinions, beliefs, etc. we all identify with different things in different ways, and we all have different feelings (some, no feelings at all). we are not full of each others knowledge entirely because some if not most of someones knowledge was obtained through themselves.

I am a thinking thing. no one else thinks for me, nor do I for them...
thats what.

you dont have to know what "individual" is to be an individual.

Answer 5

I agree with u dat d meaning of d word individual in d dictry. is confusing. D first states inseparable or undivided, but later on it become distinct, special, separate. We can"t clearly understand w/c is w/c. D meanings are contradicting. But I really want to find out what is individual. I think the key is myself. I have this "me' that claim I am unique and special. (everybody thinks this is true). I must find out this "I" with certainty, byond reasonable doubt. What is this big "I" . Is this d spirit, d consciousness, d soul, d mind, d body, emotion, loneliness, happiness, man, woman, title etc.? R these only one big bunch or independent to each other, is loneliness d same as happiness, spirit&mind body&soul It seem these are all descriptions of descriptions. now it seems these are separated or are these personalities (personas or Masks) molded by ignorance? Personas are like the skin of an onion with nothing underneath. I think this nothingness is the undivided whole (holy) the true individual.

Answer 6

First of all I disagree with your opening premise in what makes us similar. What you have cited are precisely those things that make us recognisable to others and therefore indicate our individuality.
We all have a face, but depending on the various features of our faces we are able to distinguish between individuals.
When we pick up the telephone we can recognise the speaker because we all have individual accents. I would agree that people are usually able to distinguish an American accent from a British accent in that there are certain characteristics of speech that belong to each group, but how is it we can recognise someone's voice if our voices were not individual and unique?
What makes us individual is our incredible capacity to notice the individuality of others - those little things that help us to recognise each other.

Answer 7

it is a persons thoughts, their perspective on the world that makes everyone unique and individual. the actions that a person decides to take, based on their own desires, views, attitudes, moods can mark them out as an individual. sure, their views and attitudes can be influenced by education, background, experiences but this is no bad thing. i believe that in general these influences on a person are good and the broader the education and experiences, generally the more individual, the less conforming that person is likely to be. everyone is an individual but many seem to desire conformity even to the extent that they live as a stereotype, sharing views, attitudes and behaviour with many others. people with a lower level of education and less broad experience are more likely to be inclined this way. this phenomenon is particularly apparent in the chav culture. if it looks like a stereotype it deserves to be stereotyped and people will react to that individual in the way they react to the stereotype and treat them accordingly - sorry it may sometimes be cruel but that's life. you should choose individuality over conformity, you will eventually as you get older, have more experiences and hopefully more education, that is of course unless the shared behaviour gets you stabbed, overdosed, imprisoned - then you;ll wish you had been more of an individual.

Answer 8

As a human race we can not be divided as a single person each of us is unique and individual being's we all have a genetic make up of our parents making us apart of them, but with the ability to think for our self's, making our own minds up of how to think and act. so I suppose on one part you are right and the other , I am an Individual to my self, there is no one like me as I grow and adapted and change even the smallest way each day.

Answer 9

Very interesting Question! - I see where you are coming from, I think!

I think I'm something of an idividual, because I choose to do my own thing!

I'm not exactly a Rebel and I try not to break the Law, but if i want to wear my sandals in winter, and I harm none (not even myself), then I shall!

I've long hair and 'ZZ Top' style beard, and often get coments shouted at me by people passing, but do I care?..... No, because I am an Individual!

I don't try to be unique, I just don't want to mold myself too closely on everyone else!

We all have unique factors about our appearence, personality, style of dress, etc.... not to mention things like Finger Prints and DNA!!!!.... So we are all INDIVIDUALS to some extent, whether we want to be or not!

Thanks for an interesting, thought provoking question,..... and a chance for my Individual Rantings!!!




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There are 10 types of people in this World ....
.... those that understand Binary, and those that don't!

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Answer 10

I am a unique individual. I have distinct qualities and attributes that make me stand out among fellow human being as myself. I can create a list of all those qualities and attributes here that I have know myself by. That might be a fairly accurate, simple and understandable for the purpose of common understanding of myself as an individual. But your question, I presume, requires some deeper probing into the things that harbour the roots of human uniqueness. As the matters otherwise would be too simple to be raised as a philosophical question.

We are try to be unique. We all try so hard to share and validate this uniqueness with each other people. We like very much to be unique and distinct for here lie the seeds of all distinctions in a personal life. In this world being normal, regular, common place and trivial means a destiny into oblivion. This is a threat that every single human soul face. To be self-conscious is to be unique and distinct – this is the need. We like to be known and we like to be known in a good way. We like to share ourselves with the rest of the crowd but we do not want to lose ourselves in the crowd completely. We like to keep the best in us to our selves – our unique and distinct self, with full sense of ourselves being what we are and like to be.

We are first of all unique within our own family – no one is like us even here. Then we are distinct among friends. And we are a unique bunch of people. Then we are distinct and unique as a group or as a nation. We take great pride in all these identities we carve for ourselves. But all these are the way to share our uniqueness with other equally distinct and unique people around us without running a risk of losing what we are - ourselves.

But what is really unique about us, what make us really distinct among all other people else our uniquely bestowed upon ability of making individual choices . And out of these choices an ability to make wrong choices. We have an ability to defy the laws of general nature. Our ability to make mistakes is what forges us into what we are. We make mistakes and then we stand alone to face the consequences. We when assume the full responsibility for our deeds we experience utter individuality. No one else stands then in our stead for us to share the responsibility for our actions. It is said that this is what caused this world to happen at the first place, and this is probably how it would all end one day. Apart from this, all other things bring us closer to one another. We rejoice our victories, combine our happiness and celebrate our all the good things together, but we are alone in the our anguishes our failures.

I know it sounds negative and it is oblique stance upon things, But his is how I see – distinctly. Besides, there is a reason for this. The reason is that it is the extreme. I would not have been able to develop this point without looking into the extreme within me. I cannot say what makes me a uniquely individual person otherwise because all things I find myself I also find in others to variable proportions. But when I make a mistake I find myself perplexed and surprised at what I do – I surprise even myself. I find that I will have to explain to others for they will not understand me. Then I come to know what I am, and what I can possibly be.