Single Idea 20618

[catalogued under 16. Persons / A. Concept of a Person / 1. Existence of Persons]

Full Idea

Suggested characteristics of personhood: consciousness (esp. of pain); reasoning and problem solving; self-motivated activity; varied communication on many topics; self-concepts and self-awareness.

Gist of Idea

Persons must be conscious, reasoning, motivated, communicative, self-aware

Source

report of Mary Anne Warren (On the Moral and Legal State of Abortion [1973], p.55) by Tuckness,A/Wolf,C - This is Political Philosophy 8 'Standing'

Book Reference

Tuckness,A / Wolf,C: 'This is Political Philosophy' [Wiley Blackwell 2017], p.192


A Reaction

[a 'famous' article] A number of non-human animals come very close to passing these tests. I suspect the complex communication is only in there to disqualify them from getting the full certificate. (But she wrote on animal rights).

Related Ideas

Idea 1202 A person is intelligent, rational, self-aware, continuous, conscious [Locke]

Idea 4669 Persons are conscious, they relate, they think, they feel, and they are self-aware [Glover]