Person
Encyclopedia
A person is a human being, or an entity
that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human (collectively constituting personhood), for example in a particular moral or legal context. Such capacities or attributes can include agency, self-awareness
, a notion of the past and future, and the possession of rights
and duties, among others. However, the concept of a person is difficult to define in a way that is universally accepted, due to its historical and cultural variability and the controversies surrounding its use in some contexts.
The word "person", and the initial concepts to which it referred, were developed during the Trinitarian and Christological
debates of the first through sixth centuries. Since then, a number of important changes to the word's meaning and use have taken place, and attempts have been made to redefine the word with varying degrees of adoption and influence. Today, depending on the context, theory or definition, the category of "person" may be taken to include such non-human entities as animals, corporations, artificial intelligences, or extraterrestrial life
; and may exclude some human entities in prenatal development or those with extreme mental impairments or injuries.
The concept of a person is closely tied to legal and political concepts such as citizenship
, equality
, and liberty
, and various questions in these areas have turned on the problem of what counts as a person, such as the abolition of slavery
in the United States, the fight for women's rights
in many countries, debates about abortion
(e.g. fetal rights
and reproductive rights
issues), and debates about corporate personhood
(e.g. for campaign spending
limits).
" (πρόσωπον: Greek) referred to the masks worn by actors on stage. The various masks represented the various "personae" in the stage play, while the masks themselves helped the actor's voice resonate and easier for the audience to hear. In Roman law, the word "persona" could also refer to a legal entity.
and Hume
, the term may designate any human (or non-human) agent which: (1) possesses continuous consciousness
over time; and (2) who is therefore capable of framing representations about the world, formulating plans and acting on them.
Others have proposed different concepts, including Charles Taylor
and Harry G. Frankfurt. According to Taylor, the problem with the naturalist view is that it depends solely on a "performance criterion" to determine what is an agent. Thus, other things (e.g. machines or animals) that exhibit "similarly complex adaptive behaviour" could not be distinguished from persons. Instead, Taylor proposes a significance-based view of personhood:
The philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt writes that, "What philosophers have lately come to accept as analysis of the concept of a person in not actually analysis of that concept at all." He suggests that the concept of a person is intimately connected to free will
, and describes the structure of human volition
according to first- and second-order desires:
According to Nikolas Kompridis
, there might also be an intersubjective
, or interpersonal, basis to personhood:
Other philosophers have defined persons in different ways. Boethius gives the definition of "person" as "an individual substance of a rational nature" ("Naturæ rationalis individua substantia"). Peter Singer defines a “person” as being a conscious, thinking being, which knows that it is a person (self-awareness
).
Philosopher Thomas I. White argues that the criteria for a person are as follows: (1) is alive, (2) is aware, (3) feels positive and negative sensations, (4) has emotions, (5) has a sense of self, (6) controls its own behaviour, (7) recognises other persons and treats them appropriately, and (8) has a variety of sophisticated cognitive abilities. While many of White's criteria are somewhat anthropocentric
, some animals such as dolphin
s would still be considered persons. Some animal rights groups have also championed recognition for animals as "persons".
Various specific philosophical debates focus on questions about the personhood of different classes of entities.
is a concept long debated by religion and philosophy. In contemporary global thought, once humans are born
, personhood is considered automatic. However, personhood could also extend to late fetuses and neonates, dependent on what level of thought is required. With respect to abortion
, 'personhood' is a term used to describe the status of a human being vis-a-vis his or her individual human rights. The term was used by Justice Blackmun in Roe v. Wade
. However, the distinction in ethical value
between currently existing persons and potential future persons has been questioned. Subsequently, it has been argued that contraception and even the decision not to procreate at all could be regarded as immoral on a similar basis as abortion.
Susan Bordo
has suggested that the overwhelming focus on the issue of personhood in abortion debates has often been an alibi for depriving women of their own rights as persons. She writes that "the legal double standard concerning the bodily integrity of pregnant and nonpregnant bodies, the construction of women as fetal incubators, the bestowal of 'super-subject' status to the fetus, and the emergence of a father's-rights ideology" demonstrate "that the current terms of the abortion debate – as a contest between fetal claims to personhood and women's right to choose – are limited and misleading."
While some tend to be comfortable constraining personhood status within the human species based on basic capacities (e.g. excluding human stem cells, fetuses, and bodies that cannot recover awareness), others often wish to include all these forms of human bodies even if they have never had awareness (which some would call pre-people) or had awareness, but could never have awareness again due to massive and irrecoverable brain damage (some would call these post-people). The Vatican
has recently been advancing a human exceptionalist
understanding of personhood theory, while other communities, such as Christian Evangelicals in the U.S. have sometimes rejected personhood theory as biased against human exceptionalism. Of course, many religious communities (of many traditions) view the other versions of personhood theory perfectly compatible with their faith, as do the majority of modern Humanists (especially Personists
).
, animal rights
and related subjects, consider that certain animals should also be granted personhood. Commonly named species in this context include the great apes, cetaceans, and elephant
s, because of their apparent intelligence and intricate social rules. The idea of extending personhood to all animals has the support of legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz
and Laurence Tribe
of Harvard Law School
, and animal law
courses are now taught in 92 out of 180 law schools in the United States. On May 9, 2008, Columbia University Press
published Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation by Professor Gary L. Francione
of Rutgers University
School of Law, a collection of writings that summarizes his work to date and makes the case for non-human animals as persons.
On the other hand, some proponents of human exceptionalism
(also referred to by its critics as speciesism
) have countered that we must institute a strict demarcation of personhood based on species membership in order to avoid the horrors of genocide
(based on propaganda dehumanizing one or more ethnicities) or the injustices of forced sterilization (as occurred in many countries to people with low I.Q. scores and prisoners).
Other theorists attempt to demarcate between degrees of personhood. For example, Peter Singer's two-tiered account distinguishes between basic sentience and the higher standard of self-consciousness which constitutes personhood. Julian Friedland has advanced a seven-tiered account based on cognitive capacity and linguistic mastery.
s, intelligent and self-aware system of hardware and software, are eventually created, what criteria would be used to determine their personhood? Likewise, at what point might human-created biological life be considered to have achieved personhood?
, even if a person changed so much as to no longer be considered a member of the human species
(by whatever standard is used to determine that). For example, how much of a human can be replaced by artificial parts before personhood is lost, if ever? If the brain
is the reason people are considered persons, then if the human brain and all its thought patterns, memories and other attributes could also in future be transposed faithfully into some form of artificial device (for example to avoid illness such as brain cancer) would the patient still be considered a person after the operation?
Historically, not even all humans have enjoyed full legal protection as persons (women, children, non-landowners, minorities, slaves, etc.), but from the late 18th through the late 20th century, being born as a member of the human species gradually became secular grounds for the basic rights of liberty, freedom from persecution, and humanitarian care. Today, in statutory and corporate law
, certain social constructs are legally considered persons. In many jurisdictions, some corporation
s and other legal entities are considered legal persons with standing to sue or be sued in court. This is known as legal or corporate personhood
.
and other disciplines, phenomena such as the perception and attribution of personhood have been scientifically studied. Typical questions addressed in social psychology are the accuracy of attribution, processes of perception and the formation of bias. Various other scientific/medical disciplines address the myriad of issues in the development of personality
.
, "person" is an abstract concept, to study individuals as they exist as functioning or non-functioning components within a society.
religion, animals, plants, and other entities may be persons or deities
.
in his work, De Trinitas ("On The Trinity"), in order to distinguish the three "persons" of the Trinity
. Subsequently, Boethius refined the word to mean "an individual substance of a rational nature." This can be re-stated as "that which possesses an intellect and a will." Thus, the word "person" was originally a theological term created and defined by Christians to explain Christian theological concepts.
The notion of the possession of intellect and will is important, since Christians hold that the one divine nature is nothing except the one Divine Intellect and the one Divine Will. The Second Letter to Peter (2 Peter 1:4) indicates that human persons can "share in the divine nature." Though they have the capacity to share in it, human persons cannot possess it. This is one of the major distinctions between the three Persons of the Trinity and all other kinds of persons - each one of the uncreated persons of the Trinity possesses the one Divine Nature entirely unto Himself. He does not share it. Yet there is only one God, one Divine Nature. Other created persons can, at most, share in the Divine Nature, they cannot possess it.
Thus, for Christians, there are three kinds of persons: the three uncreated Persons of the Trinity who each possess the single Divine Intellect/Will, the created persons who are pure spirit and possess angelic intellects/wills, and the created persons who are a combination of spirit and physical body, who possess human intellects/wills. Angels are created persons who are pure spirit. Human persons are a created persons who are combinations of pure spirit and physical body. There are no other kinds of persons.
Every human person exists via the union of human intellect, human will and human body. The human soul is considered to be the human intellect and the human will. The will is said to be nothing more than the "appetite" of the intellect. The human soul is the form of the human body - it keeps the body from disintegrating. In the Catholic tradition, the human soul is infused into the human body at conception and is immortal. Death occurs when the human soul separates from the human body and the body disintegrates into dust.
Since neither the Persons of God nor the persons who are angels have bodies, neither of these kinds of persons can experience death. The restoration of the body at the Last Judgement is the restoration to the human person of an essential aspect of his/her existence as person.
Since the Greek concept of nous
is not comparable to the Christian concept of rational intellect, it is not the case that the Greeks had a similar understanding of person. Indeed, it is difficult to find a concept or set of concepts in any non-Christian culture which corresponds to the Christian definition. Modern attempts to redefine "person" and "personhood" are detailed in the article above.
, sentient beings including Humans, Jinns and Angels, are regarded as people, up-to the extent of personalizing animals and inanimate objects as holding a form of anthropocentrism
as it is an ill described theme in the Quran. Genderless figures are typically described by male gender and are referred to as "He" when classical Arabic has no pronoun for "It" . Being Human is more to do with being the best of the creation as the worst of the creations are seen as non-human, reflecting real-life notions who reflect humanity as beings practicing positive (as well as subhuman can mean a being who is seen negatively in a moral aspect rather biological) aspects and is considered highly subjective when defining person-hood to only children of Adam
, as Human
-like beings have existed long before the creation of Adam
and Eve
. According to such a theme, it is then to assume that Islam
is not only for Humans, but for all that exists as being defined by personification are considered Muslims except for holders of free-will who are able to become Kufr
.Though it is wise to associate personhood with humans among humans themselves when on Dunya, as such means of personification is knowledge of the unseen.
In the Quran, Humans themselves directly are referred to as "Mankind".
Christianity and Islam differ on the nature on demons. Christianity sees demons as fallen angel
s. In Islam, demons are a separate creation, human-like beings but made from fire, and angels in Islam will not become fallen angels.
Entity
An entity is something that has a distinct, separate existence, although it need not be a material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate.An entity could be viewed as a set...
that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human (collectively constituting personhood), for example in a particular moral or legal context. Such capacities or attributes can include agency, self-awareness
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...
, a notion of the past and future, and the possession of rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
and duties, among others. However, the concept of a person is difficult to define in a way that is universally accepted, due to its historical and cultural variability and the controversies surrounding its use in some contexts.
The word "person", and the initial concepts to which it referred, were developed during the Trinitarian and Christological
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
debates of the first through sixth centuries. Since then, a number of important changes to the word's meaning and use have taken place, and attempts have been made to redefine the word with varying degrees of adoption and influence. Today, depending on the context, theory or definition, the category of "person" may be taken to include such non-human entities as animals, corporations, artificial intelligences, or extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
; and may exclude some human entities in prenatal development or those with extreme mental impairments or injuries.
The concept of a person is closely tied to legal and political concepts such as citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
, equality
Equality before the law
Equality before the law or equality under the law or legal egalitarianism is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws....
, and liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
, and various questions in these areas have turned on the problem of what counts as a person, such as the abolition of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
in the United States, the fight for women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
in many countries, debates about abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
(e.g. fetal rights
Fetal rights
Fetal rights is a term used in some countries in reference to legislation that grants legal rights to fetuses. The term is used most often in the context of the abortion debate, as the basis for an argument in support of the pro-life stance....
and reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
issues), and debates about corporate personhood
Corporate personhood
Corporate personhood is the status conferred upon corporations under the law, which allows corporations to have rights and responsibilities similar to those of a natural person. There is a question about which subset of rights that are afforded to natural persons should also be afforded to...
(e.g. for campaign spending
Campaign finance
Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...
limits).
Etymology
Prior to the advent of Christianity, the word "persona" (Latin) or "prosoponProsopon
Prosopon is a technical term encountered in Greek theology. It is most often translated as "person", and as such is sometimes confused in translation with hypostasis, which is also translated as "person." Prosopon originally meant "face" or "mask" in Greek and derives from Greek theatre, in which...
" (πρόσωπον: Greek) referred to the masks worn by actors on stage. The various masks represented the various "personae" in the stage play, while the masks themselves helped the actor's voice resonate and easier for the audience to hear. In Roman law, the word "persona" could also refer to a legal entity.
Philosophy
In philosophy, the word "person" may refer to various concepts. According to the "naturalist" epistemological tradition, from Descartes through LockeJohn Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
and Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
, the term may designate any human (or non-human) agent which: (1) possesses continuous consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
over time; and (2) who is therefore capable of framing representations about the world, formulating plans and acting on them.
Others have proposed different concepts, including Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor (philosopher)
Charles Margrave Taylor, is a Canadian philosopher from Montreal, Quebec best known for his contributions in political philosophy, the philosophy of social science, and in the history of philosophy. His contributions to these fields have earned him both the prestigious Kyoto Prize and the...
and Harry G. Frankfurt. According to Taylor, the problem with the naturalist view is that it depends solely on a "performance criterion" to determine what is an agent. Thus, other things (e.g. machines or animals) that exhibit "similarly complex adaptive behaviour" could not be distinguished from persons. Instead, Taylor proposes a significance-based view of personhood:
What is crucial about agents is that things matter to them. We thus cannot simply identify agents by a performance criterion, nor assimilate animals to machines... [likewise] there are matters of significance for human beings which are peculiarly human, and have no analogue with animals.
The philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt writes that, "What philosophers have lately come to accept as analysis of the concept of a person in not actually analysis of that concept at all." He suggests that the concept of a person is intimately connected to free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
, and describes the structure of human volition
Volition (psychology)
Volition or will is the cognitive process by which an individual decides on and commits to a particular course of action. It is defined as purposive striving, and is one of the primary human psychological functions...
according to first- and second-order desires:
Besides wanting and choosing and being moved to do this or that, [humans] may also want to have (or not to have) certain desires and motives. They are capable of wanting to be different, in their preferences and purposes, from what they are. Many animals appear to have the capacity for what I shall call "first-order desires" or "desires of the first order," which are simply desires to do or not to do one thing or another. No animal other than man, however, appears to have the capacity for reflective self-evaluation that is manifested in the formation of second-order desires.
According to Nikolas Kompridis
Nikolas Kompridis
Nikolas Kompridis is a professor at the Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy at the University of Western Sydney. His scholarly work addresses a wide range of subjects in contemporary social and political philosophy, as well as in aesthetics and philosophy of culture...
, there might also be an intersubjective
Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity is a term used in philosophy, psychology, sociology and anthropology to describe a condition somewhere between subjectivity and objectivity, one in which a phenomenon is personally experienced but by more than one subject....
, or interpersonal, basis to personhood:
What if personal identity is constituted in, and sustained through, our relations with others, such that were we to erase our relations with our significant others we would also erase the conditions of our self-intelligibility? As it turns out, this erasure... is precisely what is experimentally dramatized in the “science fiction” film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindEternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic science fiction film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by the French director, Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction, psychological...
, a far more philosophically sophisticated meditation on personal identity than is found in most of the contemporary literature on the topic."
Other philosophers have defined persons in different ways. Boethius gives the definition of "person" as "an individual substance of a rational nature" ("Naturæ rationalis individua substantia"). Peter Singer defines a “person” as being a conscious, thinking being, which knows that it is a person (self-awareness
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...
).
Philosopher Thomas I. White argues that the criteria for a person are as follows: (1) is alive, (2) is aware, (3) feels positive and negative sensations, (4) has emotions, (5) has a sense of self, (6) controls its own behaviour, (7) recognises other persons and treats them appropriately, and (8) has a variety of sophisticated cognitive abilities. While many of White's criteria are somewhat anthropocentric
Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism describes the tendency for human beings to regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective....
, some animals such as dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
s would still be considered persons. Some animal rights groups have also championed recognition for animals as "persons".
Various specific philosophical debates focus on questions about the personhood of different classes of entities.
Unborn or unconscious humans
The beginning of human personhoodBeginning of human personhood
The beginning of human personhood is the period in an individual's life when he or she is recognized, or begins to be recognized, as a person. The precise timing and nature of this occurrence is not universally agreed upon, and has been the subject of discussion and debate in science, religion and...
is a concept long debated by religion and philosophy. In contemporary global thought, once humans are born
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...
, personhood is considered automatic. However, personhood could also extend to late fetuses and neonates, dependent on what level of thought is required. With respect to abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, 'personhood' is a term used to describe the status of a human being vis-a-vis his or her individual human rights. The term was used by Justice Blackmun in Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
. However, the distinction in ethical value
Value (ethics)
In ethics, value is a property of objects, including physical objects as well as abstract objects , representing their degree of importance....
between currently existing persons and potential future persons has been questioned. Subsequently, it has been argued that contraception and even the decision not to procreate at all could be regarded as immoral on a similar basis as abortion.
Susan Bordo
Susan Bordo
Susan Bordo is a modern feminist philosopher known for her contributions to the field of contemporary cultural studies, particularly in the area of “body studies.”-Overview:...
has suggested that the overwhelming focus on the issue of personhood in abortion debates has often been an alibi for depriving women of their own rights as persons. She writes that "the legal double standard concerning the bodily integrity of pregnant and nonpregnant bodies, the construction of women as fetal incubators, the bestowal of 'super-subject' status to the fetus, and the emergence of a father's-rights ideology" demonstrate "that the current terms of the abortion debate – as a contest between fetal claims to personhood and women's right to choose – are limited and misleading."
While some tend to be comfortable constraining personhood status within the human species based on basic capacities (e.g. excluding human stem cells, fetuses, and bodies that cannot recover awareness), others often wish to include all these forms of human bodies even if they have never had awareness (which some would call pre-people) or had awareness, but could never have awareness again due to massive and irrecoverable brain damage (some would call these post-people). The Vatican
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
has recently been advancing a human exceptionalist
Human exceptionalism
Human exceptionalism refers to a belief that human beings have special status in nature based on their unique capacities. This belief is the grounding for some naturalistic concepts of human rights.-Apologetics:...
understanding of personhood theory, while other communities, such as Christian Evangelicals in the U.S. have sometimes rejected personhood theory as biased against human exceptionalism. Of course, many religious communities (of many traditions) view the other versions of personhood theory perfectly compatible with their faith, as do the majority of modern Humanists (especially Personists
Personism
Personism is a life stance that has been called the philosophy of Peter Singer. It amounts to a branch of secular humanism with different rights-criteria. The main distinction is that personists believe that rights are conferred to the extent that a creature is a person...
).
Nonhuman animals
Some philosophers and those involved in animal welfare, ethologyEthology
Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology....
, animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
and related subjects, consider that certain animals should also be granted personhood. Commonly named species in this context include the great apes, cetaceans, and elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, because of their apparent intelligence and intricate social rules. The idea of extending personhood to all animals has the support of legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
and Laurence Tribe
Laurence Tribe
Laurence Henry Tribe is a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. He also works with the firm Massey & Gail LLP on a variety of matters....
of Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, and animal law
Animal law
Animal law is a combination of statutory and case law in which the nature—legal, social or biological—of nonhuman animals is an important factor. Animal law encompasses companion animals, wildlife, animals used in entertainment and animals raised for food and research...
courses are now taught in 92 out of 180 law schools in the United States. On May 9, 2008, Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
published Animals as Persons: Essays on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation by Professor Gary L. Francione
Gary L. Francione
Gary Lawrence Francione is an American legal scholar. He is the Distinguished Professor of Law and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Scholar of Law & Philosophy at Rutgers School of Law-Newark....
of Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
School of Law, a collection of writings that summarizes his work to date and makes the case for non-human animals as persons.
On the other hand, some proponents of human exceptionalism
Human exceptionalism
Human exceptionalism refers to a belief that human beings have special status in nature based on their unique capacities. This belief is the grounding for some naturalistic concepts of human rights.-Apologetics:...
(also referred to by its critics as speciesism
Speciesism
Speciesism is the assigning of different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership. The term was created by British psychologist Richard D...
) have countered that we must institute a strict demarcation of personhood based on species membership in order to avoid the horrors of genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
(based on propaganda dehumanizing one or more ethnicities) or the injustices of forced sterilization (as occurred in many countries to people with low I.Q. scores and prisoners).
Other theorists attempt to demarcate between degrees of personhood. For example, Peter Singer's two-tiered account distinguishes between basic sentience and the higher standard of self-consciousness which constitutes personhood. Julian Friedland has advanced a seven-tiered account based on cognitive capacity and linguistic mastery.
Hypothetical beings
Speculatively, there are several other likely categories of beings where personhood might be at issue.Alien life
If alien life were found to exist, under what circumstances would they be counted as "persons"? Do we have to consider any "willing and communicative (capable to register its own will) autonomous body" in the universe, no matter the species, an individual (a person)? Do they deserve equal rights with the human race?Artificial intelligence or life
If artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
s, intelligent and self-aware system of hardware and software, are eventually created, what criteria would be used to determine their personhood? Likewise, at what point might human-created biological life be considered to have achieved personhood?
Modified humans
The theoretical landscape of personhood theory has been altered recently by controversy in the bioethics community concerning an emerging community of scholars, researchers, and activists identifying with an explicitly Transhumanist position, which supports morphological freedomMorphological freedom
Morphological freedom refers to a proposed civil right of a person to either maintain or modify his or her own body, on his or her own terms, through informed, consensual recourse to, or refusal of, available therapeutic or enabling medical technology....
, even if a person changed so much as to no longer be considered a member of the human species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
(by whatever standard is used to determine that). For example, how much of a human can be replaced by artificial parts before personhood is lost, if ever? If the brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
is the reason people are considered persons, then if the human brain and all its thought patterns, memories and other attributes could also in future be transposed faithfully into some form of artificial device (for example to avoid illness such as brain cancer) would the patient still be considered a person after the operation?
Law
A person is recognized by law as such, not because he is human, but because rights and duties are ascribed to him. The person is the legal subject or substance of which the rights and duties are attributes. An individual human being considered as having such attributes is what lawyers call a "natural person."Historically, not even all humans have enjoyed full legal protection as persons (women, children, non-landowners, minorities, slaves, etc.), but from the late 18th through the late 20th century, being born as a member of the human species gradually became secular grounds for the basic rights of liberty, freedom from persecution, and humanitarian care. Today, in statutory and corporate law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, certain social constructs are legally considered persons. In many jurisdictions, some corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s and other legal entities are considered legal persons with standing to sue or be sued in court. This is known as legal or corporate personhood
Corporate personhood
Corporate personhood is the status conferred upon corporations under the law, which allows corporations to have rights and responsibilities similar to those of a natural person. There is a question about which subset of rights that are afforded to natural persons should also be afforded to...
.
Psychology
As an application of social psychologySocial psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
and other disciplines, phenomena such as the perception and attribution of personhood have been scientifically studied. Typical questions addressed in social psychology are the accuracy of attribution, processes of perception and the formation of bias. Various other scientific/medical disciplines address the myriad of issues in the development of personality
Personality psychology
Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. Its areas of focus include:* Constructing a coherent picture of the individual and his or her major psychological processes...
.
Sociology
In sociologySociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, "person" is an abstract concept, to study individuals as they exist as functioning or non-functioning components within a society.
Religion
In animisticAnimism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
religion, animals, plants, and other entities may be persons or deities
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
.
Christianity
Christianity is the first philosophical system to use the word "person" in its modern sense. The word "persona" was transformed from its theater use into a term with strict technical theological meaning by TertullianTertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
in his work, De Trinitas ("On The Trinity"), in order to distinguish the three "persons" of the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
. Subsequently, Boethius refined the word to mean "an individual substance of a rational nature." This can be re-stated as "that which possesses an intellect and a will." Thus, the word "person" was originally a theological term created and defined by Christians to explain Christian theological concepts.
The notion of the possession of intellect and will is important, since Christians hold that the one divine nature is nothing except the one Divine Intellect and the one Divine Will. The Second Letter to Peter (2 Peter 1:4) indicates that human persons can "share in the divine nature." Though they have the capacity to share in it, human persons cannot possess it. This is one of the major distinctions between the three Persons of the Trinity and all other kinds of persons - each one of the uncreated persons of the Trinity possesses the one Divine Nature entirely unto Himself. He does not share it. Yet there is only one God, one Divine Nature. Other created persons can, at most, share in the Divine Nature, they cannot possess it.
Thus, for Christians, there are three kinds of persons: the three uncreated Persons of the Trinity who each possess the single Divine Intellect/Will, the created persons who are pure spirit and possess angelic intellects/wills, and the created persons who are a combination of spirit and physical body, who possess human intellects/wills. Angels are created persons who are pure spirit. Human persons are a created persons who are combinations of pure spirit and physical body. There are no other kinds of persons.
Every human person exists via the union of human intellect, human will and human body. The human soul is considered to be the human intellect and the human will. The will is said to be nothing more than the "appetite" of the intellect. The human soul is the form of the human body - it keeps the body from disintegrating. In the Catholic tradition, the human soul is infused into the human body at conception and is immortal. Death occurs when the human soul separates from the human body and the body disintegrates into dust.
Since neither the Persons of God nor the persons who are angels have bodies, neither of these kinds of persons can experience death. The restoration of the body at the Last Judgement is the restoration to the human person of an essential aspect of his/her existence as person.
Since the Greek concept of nous
Nous
Nous , also called intellect or intelligence, is a philosophical term for the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real, very close in meaning to intuition...
is not comparable to the Christian concept of rational intellect, it is not the case that the Greeks had a similar understanding of person. Indeed, it is difficult to find a concept or set of concepts in any non-Christian culture which corresponds to the Christian definition. Modern attempts to redefine "person" and "personhood" are detailed in the article above.
Islam
In IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, sentient beings including Humans, Jinns and Angels, are regarded as people, up-to the extent of personalizing animals and inanimate objects as holding a form of anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism
Anthropocentrism describes the tendency for human beings to regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective....
as it is an ill described theme in the Quran. Genderless figures are typically described by male gender and are referred to as "He" when classical Arabic has no pronoun for "It" . Being Human is more to do with being the best of the creation as the worst of the creations are seen as non-human, reflecting real-life notions who reflect humanity as beings practicing positive (as well as subhuman can mean a being who is seen negatively in a moral aspect rather biological) aspects and is considered highly subjective when defining person-hood to only children of Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
, as Human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
-like beings have existed long before the creation of Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
and Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
. According to such a theme, it is then to assume that Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
is not only for Humans, but for all that exists as being defined by personification are considered Muslims except for holders of free-will who are able to become Kufr
KUFR
KUFR is a radio station broadcasting a Christian radio format. Licensed to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, the station serves the Salt Lake City area. The station is currently owned by Family Stations, Inc....
.Though it is wise to associate personhood with humans among humans themselves when on Dunya, as such means of personification is knowledge of the unseen.
In the Quran, Humans themselves directly are referred to as "Mankind".
Christianity and Islam differ on the nature on demons. Christianity sees demons as fallen angel
Fallen angel
Fallen angel is a concept developed in Jewish mythology from interpretation of the Book of Enoch. The actual term fallen angel is not found in either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament. Christians adopted the concept of fallen angels mainly based on their interpretations of the Book of...
s. In Islam, demons are a separate creation, human-like beings but made from fire, and angels in Islam will not become fallen angels.
Jinns
The most human-like creations are referred to as Jinns, a prototype of human beings as they have free-will and are sapient and live human-like lives with the ability to create societies, socialize, make families, commit crimes etc. but have a large lifespan or seen to be immortal until their death with the shaytan. They are able to spy and trick themselves and mankind but they are life based on fire. Some hadiths state their numbers as many, many times more numerous than that human beings.See also
- AnthropocentrismAnthropocentrismAnthropocentrism describes the tendency for human beings to regard themselves as the central and most significant entities in the universe, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective....
- AnthropologyAnthropologyAnthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
- Beginning of human personhoodBeginning of human personhoodThe beginning of human personhood is the period in an individual's life when he or she is recognized, or begins to be recognized, as a person. The precise timing and nature of this occurrence is not universally agreed upon, and has been the subject of discussion and debate in science, religion and...
- BeingBeingBeing , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
- Capitis deminutio
- CharacterMoral characterMoral character or character is an evaluation of a particular individual's durable moral qualities. The concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits...
- CitizenshipCitizenshipCitizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
- ConsciousnessConsciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
- Corporate personhoodCorporate personhoodCorporate personhood is the status conferred upon corporations under the law, which allows corporations to have rights and responsibilities similar to those of a natural person. There is a question about which subset of rights that are afforded to natural persons should also be afforded to...
- Great Ape personhoodGreat Ape personhoodGreat ape personhood is a movement to create legal recognition of bonobos, common chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans as bona fide persons.-First steps:...
- Juridical person
- Juristic person
- HumanHumanHumans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
- IdentityIdentity (social science)Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
- IndividualIndividualAn individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...
- KantKANTKANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...
- Legal fictionLegal fictionA legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts which is then used in order to apply a legal rule which was not necessarily designed to be used in that way...
- NonpersonNonpersonA nonperson is a citizen or a member of a group who lacks, loses, or is forcibly denied social or legal status, especially basic human rights, or who effectively ceases to have a record of their existence within a society , from a point of view of traceability, documentation, or existence...
- PeoplePeoplePeople is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:* as the plural of person or a group of people People is a plurality of human beings or other beings possessing enough qualities constituting personhood. It has two usages:*...
- PersonalityPersonality psychologyPersonality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. Its areas of focus include:* Constructing a coherent picture of the individual and his or her major psychological processes...
- Personhood movementPersonhood movementThe personhood movement is an effort to establish who has the status of a person within a society. The concept of personhood is closely tied to legal and political concepts of citizenship, equality, and liberty...
- Personoid
- Phenomenology
- Subject (philosophy)Subject (philosophy)In philosophy, a subject is a being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness or a relationship with another entity . A subject is an observer and an object is a thing observed...
- SuretySuretyA surety or guarantee, in finance, is a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults...
- Theory of mindTheory of mindTheory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own...
Further reading
- Cornelia J.de Vogel The concept of personality in Greek and Christian thought. In Studies in philosophy and the history of philosophy. Vol. 2. Edited by J. K. Ryan, Washington: Catholic University of America Press 1963. pp. 20–60
External links
- Rights of Non-Human Persons Program (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies)