人間 vs 人 to refer to an individual?


Some context: Person A and Person B both went through a trying situation
dealing with Person C, someone that Person A has known for many years. They
are now talking about how awful it was. Person A then thinks this:

>
> [俺]{おれ}に[比]{くら}べて[汚染]{おせん}[度]{ど}１０[年分]{ねんぶん}も[少]{すく}ないなんて、なんて[幸]{しあわ}せな[人間]{にんげん}だ。

which as far as I understand is something along the lines of: Person B has
suffered 10 years less than I have. How lucky Person B is.

I was pretty surprised 人間 was the choice of word here. I would have expected 人
instead because in my experience 人間 refers to humanity or a type of person. Is
this something that's done frequently?




Yes, this example sentence is natural.

人間【にんげん】 can be used, as well as 人【ひと】, when one shows their hatred against
someone, or when one wants to keep a distance from someone.

>   1. 私はあの人が好きです。: OK
>   2. 私はあの人が嫌いです。: OK
>   3. 私はあの人間が好きです。: **Weird**
>   4. 私はあの人間が嫌いです。: **OK**
>

To me, #4 sounds even more hostile than #2.

Likewise, 「彼はそういう人です。(That's how he is.)」 can be used both positively or
negatively, but 「彼はそういう人間です。」 is usually negative.

In the sentence in question, なんて幸せな人だ is also OK, but なんて幸せな人間だ sounds like
Person A displays a somewhat unfriendly attitude to Person B.

I can't explain the logic behind this, but perhaps the speaker is keeping a
distance from the subject by using 人間, the word that does not sound very
friendly.




Yes, this example sentence is natural.

人間【にんげん】 can be used, as well as 人【ひと】, when one shows their hatred against
someone, or when one wants to keep a distance from someone.

>   1. 私はあの人が好きです。: OK
>   2. 私はあの人が嫌いです。: OK
>   3. 私はあの人間が好きです。: **Weird**
>   4. 私はあの人間が嫌いです。: **OK**
>

To me, #4 sounds even more hostile than #2.

Likewise, 「彼はそういう人です。(That's how he is.)」 can be used both positively or
negatively, but 「彼はそういう人間です。」 is usually negative.

In the sentence in question, なんて幸せな人だ is also OK, but なんて幸せな人間だ sounds like
Person A displays a somewhat unfriendly attitude to Person B.

I can't explain the logic behind this, but perhaps the speaker is keeping a
distance from the subject by using 人間, the word that does not sound very
friendly.

