I guess humans can have any number of arms. The number of arm don’t change that a person is human. But but the number of arms humans have right now is between 0 and maybe 4? If there is a person with 4 arms.
The right answer is that it’s okay to say “humans have two arms.” Platonic ideals are fine. If you’re going to draw an example of a human for someone, it’s okay to draw it with two arms. It doesn’t somehow invalidate or dehumanize people with different numbers of arms. Thinking that it does is magical thinking, frankly, and has no real basis in material reality.
An excellent reminder about how these things work. Another question for thought: how many arms do humans have?
I guess humans can have any number of arms. The number of arm don’t change that a person is human. But but the number of arms humans have right now is between 0 and maybe 4? If there is a person with 4 arms.
The right answer is that it’s okay to say “humans have two arms.” Platonic ideals are fine. If you’re going to draw an example of a human for someone, it’s okay to draw it with two arms. It doesn’t somehow invalidate or dehumanize people with different numbers of arms. Thinking that it does is magical thinking, frankly, and has no real basis in material reality.
the way this is expressed is “humans typically have two arms”.
the other statement is " humans can have 0-4 arms".
so it’s just a matter of choosing words carefully, of using precise language. you can express any of these concepts without any confusion.