First, to dissect the question of “Are zombies human?” we must first answer the question “What is a human?” Humans are complex beings, with movements, wants, desires, goals, feelings, emotions and drive. Zombies, from what I’ve watched in the seasons of The Walking Dead are simply beings who were once human and now only possess certain human-like qualities. One of the major qualities is movement, they can walk and grab. A few others are having a herd mentality and the ability to make noises. The noises are interesting, because we don’t know what exactly the purpose, if there is any by the zombie to make those noises are. But I believe the overall biggest difference between zombies and humans are the fact that humans have soul, or something inside them. There is the ability to make relationships. Or there is the ability to have empathy. Humans can do so many more “soulful” things as opposed to your everyday zombie. So for many reasons stated and left unsaid, zombies are not human. And zombies do not, in any circumstance have souls. Some people will argue “well what about the wife in season 1 that came back to the home after she turned? She had soul or love, or emotion to come back home…right?” I have to disagree with that for two reasons. She could have been moving to noise or scent when a human was close enough to the door. My other reason for disagreeing with this statement is that the wife very well could have been doing that to every home. But that’s something we never see in the show so all of a sudden zombies have souls? No… but nice try. A soul is a combination of mind and emotion. Without both, you wouldn’t have your unique, individual soul. The doctor at the CDC said in season 2 that only the core of the brain is reactivated, therefore giving the zombie movement. No thought processing, no empathy, no right and wrong, no individual thought, just follow the zombie and eat flesh. Zombies have no soul so therefore a zombie cannot be a soul. Now if zombies had sex, drank, and stole on top of killing people could make the argument that zombies have a most basic soul, a barbaric soul. Only wanting material things with no emotion or conviction. But they don’t, so zombies do not have any form of soul. The only connection to zombies and souls are that zombies are just a piece of something, like a soul. Understanding a zombie is multitudes simpler than understanding a human. In 5 seasons of The Walking Dead, I still haven’t figured out the characters in and out. Did I have preconceptions and notions that would make me think I had them figured out? I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t, but to be honest I can’t even fully put my finger on the ever changing Carl. But it’s a lot easier to read a zombie, now even with the point of view of the show being from the humans, it’s hard to believe that zombies communicate, change, have feelings, and make mistakes. Are humans simply flesh? Without the soul, yes I believe we are. But even if we didn’t have souls, we would have thought processing. So we would understand and follow rules, so that would add somewhat of a dimension so a soulless human. But every human on earth simply isn’t flesh, there’s purpose. Now if the human dwells into its soul and finds its purpose isn’t up to me. If they do, they have that much less similarity to a “simply flesh” creature. Those who choose to not dive into the depths of their soul are one step closer to a “simply flesh” creature. But even at that the purposeless human can still feel, and hurt, and have joy, and see a higher being.
-John Clark
-John Clark