The Humans We Become
All books · Human philosophy
Where do new possibilities come from?
By Justin McDermott · Complete manuscript · Unpublished
Bodies, habits, histories and circumstances shape the responses available to us. Relationships, stories, practice and institutions can widen that range. The Humans We Become asks what we make easier or harder for one another to become.
Inside the book
The inquiry moves between the person and the conditions of a shared life. It considers how familiar responses take shape, how new ones may become possible, and what responsibility follows when our ways of relating affect another person’s room to grow. Its questions reach into friendship, belonging and the institutions through which we organise life together.
How bodies, habits, histories and circumstances shape our responses.
The part relationships, stories and practice play in widening possibility.
What we make easier or harder for one another through shared life.
Who it is for
Begin here if you are drawn to questions about relationships, responsibility and our shared future. The book offers a philosophical entry point for readers thinking about who people can become and the conditions that help new possibilities emerge.
Its place in the Compass
This book widens the Compass project from lived experience, meaning and care to human possibility. The Storm Within offers the personal story at the project’s beginning; The Needs We Carry looks more closely at the responsibilities of support.
Explore Dream State: The Storm Within · About the Compass project
A shorter way into the writing
Leave Competition to the Arenas. A shorter reflection on friendship, belonging and the scoreboards we carry home.
Read more or get in touch
This is a complete, unpublished manuscript. Publishing enquiries welcome. To request a reading sample or discuss editorial interest, email Justin about The Humans We Become.
Browse all five books · Read the Field Notes · Meet the author