What is a Person?

[Belinda]

Babies, and idiots, can't vote and assume other responsibilities yet we grant them personhood.

But where do you draw the line in order to avoid being dismissed as crazy? I share your concern about orangutans, but I also have similar sentiments towards hedgehogs. Can you see what I'm getting at?

That's the question we need to deal with. I think we probably decide according to the most avant garde level that popular cultural values can stand. The big supermarkets will know about trends. King Charles does not permit foie gras in his house.The Green Party has advanced a little during the last decade. Vegans and vegetarians are normal now.There's a rebellion brewing against water company CEOs who take instead of ploughing back into infrastructure. Pretty well all school children now understand the ecological imperative. Hedgehogs are more than ever before popular despite being scratchy to cuddle.

[Iwannaplato]

Babies, and idiots, can't vote and assume other responsibilities yet we grant them personhood.

I'm concerned about corporate personhood.

[Belinda]

Babies, and idiots, can't vote and assume other responsibilities yet we grant them personhood.

I'm concerned about corporate personhood.

Corporations, and ideologies, never should be granted personhood as you imply.

The official motto of the US is "In God we trust". So far so good. But a nation that struggled to free itself from the overlordship of King George was not going to submit to God as yet another hierarchical summit. It's significant that God is often called The Lord.
USA plc . What a pity!

[popeye1945]

How about the innocent consciousness being defined/programmed by an ever-changing context?

[seeds]

_______

I suggest that a "person" (the "I Am-ness"/soul) is that which is formed the instant the lights come on in the human mind at the moment of one's initial birth.

I furthermore suggest that a newly born human soul ("person") is simply a temporary embryo of the greater SOUL (person) to which this universe belongs.
_______

[Dubious]

The sum total of one's sensibilities in whatever form or degree they may manifest. Sometimes these are so different, so contrary it's hard to see the 'other' person as a person aside from his human appearance.

[popeye1945]

A person is an anonymous condition born without identity who in living life takes on an identity fostered through failures and successes within its social context, the memories and feelings of which become its identity.

[shelby]

In a philosophical context, the concept of a person is debated, and there are different theories of what constitutes a person. Some philosophers argue that a person is defined by the ability to have self-awareness, consciousness, and rational thought. In contrast, others say that a person is determined by the ability to have moral rights and responsibilities.

[Belinda]

How about the innocent consciousness being defined/programmed by an ever-changing context?

The more a society grants personhood to the innocent consciousness the better the society. The great apes are in line to be granted personhood minus the right to vote.

[popeye1945]

How about the innocent consciousness being defined/programmed by an ever-changing context?

The more a society grants personhood to the innocent consciousness the better the society. The great apes are in line to be granted personhood minus the right to vote.

Even the intellectually and emotionally dead should be able to recognize the cognitive abilities of our cousins and their vulnerability to suffering and joy.

[Belinda]

How about the innocent consciousness being defined/programmed by an ever-changing context?

The more a society grants personhood to the innocent consciousness the better the society. The great apes are in line to be granted personhood minus the right to vote.

Even the intellectually and emotionally dead should be able to recognize the cognitive abilities of our cousins and their vulnerability to suffering and joy.

There were and are people who lack sympathy. It's as if at some time in their youth they were castrated.

[popeye1945]

The more a society grants personhood to the innocent consciousness the better the society. The great apes are in line to be granted personhood minus the right to vote.

Even the intellectually and emotionally dead should be able to recognize the cognitive abilities of our cousins and their vulnerability to suffering and joy.

There were and are people who lack sympathy. It's as if at some time in their youth they were castrated.

Actually, I think it is an interplay between the public and a totally materialistic culture, once set in motion they support each other in a growing mentality of greed and indifference. This system I believe protects itself from the intrusion of sanity and self-responsibility, mindless living with no consideration for the generations to come.

[Belinda]

Even the intellectually and emotionally dead should be able to recognize the cognitive abilities of our cousins and their vulnerability to suffering and joy.

There were and are people who lack sympathy. It's as if at some time in their youth they were castrated.

Actually, I think it is an interplay between the public and a totally materialistic culture, once set in motion they support each other in a growing mentality of greed and indifference. This system I believe protects itself from the intrusion of sanity and self-responsibility, mindless living with no consideration for the generations to come.

Exactly! How then are we to get insight about these mind -formed manacles?

[popeye1945]

There were and are people who lack sympathy. It's as if at some time in their youth they were castrated.

Actually, I think it is an interplay between the public and a totally materialistic culture, once set in motion they support each other in a growing mentality of greed and indifference. This system I believe protects itself from the intrusion of sanity and self-responsibility, mindless living with no consideration for the generations to come.

Exactly! How then are we to get insight into these mind-formed manacles?

Yes, it is rather depressing and I am afraid I am not optimistic, it would take some kind of trauma nationally or even globally. A great shock followed by a subdued fear of where it is all heading, a wake-up call if you like. It is otherwise trance like, the trance of a humdrum powerlessness.

[Belinda]

Actually, I think it is an interplay between the public and a totally materialistic culture, once set in motion they support each other in a growing mentality of greed and indifference. This system I believe protects itself from the intrusion of sanity and self-responsibility, mindless living with no consideration for the generations to come.

Exactly! How then are we to get insight into these mind-formed manacles?

Yes, it is rather depressing and I am afraid I am not optimistic, it would take some kind of trauma nationally or even globally. A great shock followed by a subdued fear of where it is all heading, a wake-up call if you like. It is otherwise trance like, the trance of a humdrum powerlessness.

"The devil does not have all the best tunes" (William Booth, Salvation Army)