What Makes A Person A Person?
What Makes A Person A Person?
Hello, everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today, I want to talk about something that is pretty important, deep, and philosophical. I'm talking about personhood. Maybe you think it's not really important to know about the concept of person, but the concept of person shape your perspective of religion, ethics, and social justice. Do you think that you're a person? What about your dad, your mom, a fetus, your pet, robots, Superman, Lex Luthor, C3PO? The important key to remember is that person doesn't always equal human. Human is a biological being that has human DNA. But, person is a moral term. Before we get down into the nitty gritty of the concept of person. Let's understand the definition of a person.
Person is a being that deserves moral consideration. With this definition, maybe you think that it's easy to distinct which is a person, which is not. But, it's not that easy. It's actually pretty hard. This is one of a thought experiment about personhood that will make you think that it's not that easy to distinct which is a person, which is not.
Is Superman a person? A lot of people think that yes, Superman is a person. He looks like a person. He socializes with people around him. He helps and loves his society. But, he is not a human. He is a Kryptonian. He doesn't have any human DNA. But, people still think that even though he's from another planet and not a human, he deserves to be considered as a person. What about Lex Luthor, one of the villain in Superman? Is he a person? Well, he is filled with anger, prejudice, and a lust of power. He does bad things and society hates him. But, he's a human. He has human DNA and the physical characteristics of a human. So, is Superman or Lex Luthor a person? Or maybe Superman is more of a person than Lex Luthor.
See, it's not that easy to determine which is a person, which is not. So, many philosophers try to think what makes a person a person? Contemporary American legal scholar named John Noonan gives us one possible answer. He thinks that anything that has human DNA is a person. That answer is clearly wrong because your red blood cell will be more of a person than Superman. Dead bodies will be more of a person than a Sumatran tiger which is about to get extinct.
Another possible answer to this problem is from American philosopher named Mary Ann Warren. She gives us 5 criterias of a person, which are consciousness, reasoning, self-motivated activity, capacity to communicate, and self awareness. This theory has flaws too. Many people think that fetuses and 1 year old baby is a person, but this theory consider that a 1 year old baby is not a person because he/she can't do reasoning and it's hard to communicate with a baby. Therefore from this theory, a 1 year old baby is considered not a person.
Another theory about the concept of a person is called social criterion. This theory says that you're a person if the society recognizes you as a person. This means that if someone cares about you, then you're a person. This theory is a pretty good theory, but this theory has flaws too. For example, if in a society there's a person who doesn't have a family. Nobody knows about him or even cares for him. Is he considered as a person? According to this theory, that guy is not a person, but we think that this guy deserves to be considered as a person even though nobody knows about him.
The last theory that i want to talk about is from Australian philosopher, Peter Singer. He says that the key to personhood is sentient, the ability to feel pleasure and pain. This means that anything that has capacity to suffer is a person. Well, if this theory is right, then animal with developed central nervous system is a person, but a fetus is not a person.
So, what do you think? Do you agree with any of these theories that I mentioned. Or you have your own theory about the concept of a person. The important thing is that your theory about personhood shapes your beliefs in religion, ethics, and social justice.
Source : www.youtube.com/crashcourse
Another theory about the concept of a person is called social criterion. This theory says that you're a person if the society recognizes you as a person. This means that if someone cares about you, then you're a person. This theory is a pretty good theory, but this theory has flaws too. For example, if in a society there's a person who doesn't have a family. Nobody knows about him or even cares for him. Is he considered as a person? According to this theory, that guy is not a person, but we think that this guy deserves to be considered as a person even though nobody knows about him.
The last theory that i want to talk about is from Australian philosopher, Peter Singer. He says that the key to personhood is sentient, the ability to feel pleasure and pain. This means that anything that has capacity to suffer is a person. Well, if this theory is right, then animal with developed central nervous system is a person, but a fetus is not a person.
So, what do you think? Do you agree with any of these theories that I mentioned. Or you have your own theory about the concept of a person. The important thing is that your theory about personhood shapes your beliefs in religion, ethics, and social justice.
Source : www.youtube.com/crashcourse
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