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I bet you think you know a person when you see one. For example, I am a person right but was I always a person? Would you agree that Ludwig Van Beethoven and person? But is Lugwig Van Bethoven still a person today. Is Martin Luther King or even Freddie Mercury are they still people. What about a 9-month-old baby, is that a person.  What about a foetus then. What about Mr. Darcey in Pride and Prejudice or is Alexa or Sira or Cortana a person? 

What if you found out I wasn’t real I was just a very sophisticated robot with a voice created by an artificial intelligence. Am I still a person for as long as you believe I am a person?

To philosopher's personhood is a technical term.  To biologist Human is a biological term you're human if you have human DNA that's it, but to Christian believers a person is what is called a moral term. For theologists and most philosopher's person are beings who are part of the moral community and therefore deserve moral consideration. This distinction is really useful, but it can kind of complicates things as well. You see there are plenty of people out there who think there might be non-humans that deserve moral consideration as well, like animals. Some people think there might be some humans that have by their actions terminated their right to personhood. Which is why some believe in capital punishment. 

So, you can see this gets tricky but it is the elusiveness of what constitutes a person is at the core of almost every major social debate and issue you can think of. Black live matter, abortion, animal rights, the death penalty, euthanasia. As Christians we need to try at some level, have an understanding of personhood in order that we might begin to understand how we see ourselves and others   Whether your passion is for human rights or computers, mental health, human capacity or artificial intelligence, science or sociology, it really helpful to try and get to the bottom of personhood. We will start thinking about what constitutes a person is Superman a person. 

If you encountered Superman in the street, it wouldn't even cross your mind the way he talks certainly indicates that he's a person. But remember he isn't human he's from Krypton he lacks human DNA and is affected by things that humans are not affected by, like kryptonite. And not affected by things that humans are affected by like gravity. (He can fly) So, calling him a human is incorrect but if he existed and we met him in the street most of us would relate to him as a person and few would want to deny him his personhood. He may not be human but her certainly appears to have personality. The fact that Superman happens to be from another planet doesn't seem to make different in a moral sense. In fact, for Superman the people who love him like his adopted mum and dad on earth Ma and Pa Kent. So, Superman appears to be a person. In fact, if anything Superman might be more of a person than some of the human nemesis he faces in the stories. Some of his enemies feel less deserving of moral consideration than Superman does because Superman can seem more of a person than his enemies. In fact, the reason we emotionally connect with these hero stories from the Marvel and DC comic universes is because we identify with the superhero's human characteristics. If we go and watch a Superhero movie, we are usually inclined to have more moral empathy with these good aliens than we do with the evil humans. 

There are plenty of other candidates for non-human personality as well. What about artificial intelligence HAL form 2001 or WallE or cartoon characters like Woody and Buzz Lightyear from toy story, do they have a non-human form of personality. On a more complicated and nuanced way, what about animals particularly monkeys and the great apes. Does their level of intelligence and their abilty to fell pain and emotion give them personhood? If you believe that intelligence of sensory development are the criteria for establishing personhood then you are probably able to arrive at a point where you believe that foetuses though clearly human, are not yet persons. You can even reach a point where humans that exist in human bodies but are in persistent vegetative states or those who have experienced a complete and irreversible loss of brain function are no longer persons either. Maybe then the very elderly and infirm lose their personhood little by little. The question then become is it possible to be human Yet not a person. 

You see these different views of personhood lie at the heart of what it is that explains why people disagree about abortion and euthanasia and capital punishment. It all seems to come down to this question. What must one possess to be part of our moral community? What must one have to be deserving of our moral consideration? Well, there are five views in the secular world, and I would like us to look at them next time but only one I am personally inclined towards as a bible believing Christian.