Consider a commonplace metaphysical assumption about (modern) human beings made by most people today (especially those in the caring profession):

In virtue of our being inherently weak and prone to suffering, we human beings yearn to be helped.

This argument leads to the corollary that we are all, potentially or actually, victims. Let us reject the claim that human beings are essentially weak and prone to suffering. Then, we need not accept the conclusion that human beings are essentially in search of help.

If human beings are not intrinsically weak and disposed to suffering, then what truly can be said of human beings? That humans are in a range of instances, cases, scenarios, contexts, and situations: strong, easily amused, dumbfounded, alert, boisterous, precious-sounding, vexed, charitable, overly generous, curt, unpalatable, flat, exuberant, unclear, restless, giddy, deceptive, dull, doubled over with laughter…

If there is anything that can be said more basically about human beings, it would be the following:

That we are practicing animals whose lives are constituted by repetitions that either degrade or vitalize, and, relatedly,

That, under the right circumstances, we incline toward inquisitiveness: most fundamentally, posing questions of all kinds, inquiring into the matters at hand, and coming to understand our placement in the world.