Comments on: What makes a person a person?

By: natfly

natfly — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 00:05:33 +0000

Maybe the essence of what it means to be a person is at core our commonly shared traits and desires. I think it is also the balance of our personal desires against the desires and needs of our country and the world as a whole.

By: Mitch.

Mitch. — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:58:07 +0000

This is fairly well done I guess, but I would’ve been more concise with some of your points.
A person is essential defined as a rational, self-aware and conscious being.
Gorilla’s and Dolphins are people by this definition.
I’d mention something about Abortion but there are far too many views on that. I’d be here all day.

By: Concerened4urSOUL

Concerened4urSOUL — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:22:17 +0000

The Bible saith, “The fool saith in his heart there is no God”. Dont be a fool, do not deny what your heart is telling you. There is an eternal, loving God who promises hope for the condemned world. Humble yourself and come at His feet….

By: larry1506

larry1506 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:31:31 +0000

I’m back. I’ve found it very difficult to get my head around this. Having read UTC’s comment I now think this is because I’m looking at it from the perspective of my religious upbringing – that there needs to be an objective answer to questions like this and that the answer should place humans in a special category. As an atheist the test is “what is reasonable and practicable?” We see this in how we treat animals. Most of us oppose suffering in animals but don’t object to them being killed for food. Yet even then we make fine distinctions – eating tuna but not dolphins. These are all choices if not entirely logical ones. It looks like there’s no clear answer here, we just have to work it out in each case.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:01:44 +0000

It has always seemed clear to me (since I became an atheist) that there is no such thing as ‘personhood’ that we should concern ourselves with. Humans are no different from any other animal, and our level consciousness is just one point on a continuous scale without any special defining points. We, as a society, choose who or what to consider ‘persons’ based on what seems resonable.
I suppose this is what makes me unwilling to label myself as a ‘humanist’, and to be quite honest I’ve never quite understood this position.

By: larry

larry — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:05:51 +0000

Great post – this will generate a lot of comments I think. First off there is the question of what is consciousness. Is it awareness of the external world? Is it awareness of the self? It will be very hard to use consciousness as a measure of personhood – what about plants are they conscious of the world around them – if not of the self. I have to think about this. I’ll be back!