Society and Personhood
Anacephalics are humans who are born without the
later-evolved, cognitive functioning parts of their brains. This includes
the cerebrum and cerebral cortex, which does all your thinking and
emotional responding. Anacephalics are completely incapable of any
of the actions or interactions that make persons things we should care
about.
I want you to think about why retarded
humans, and humans without any cognitive functions such as coma victims
and anacephalics are thought of and treated as people. Are
such "technical non-persons" looked upon as people because they
fit a logically justifed definition of "person," or for moral, social
or historical reasons?
Do we have moral reasons to treat technically
non-person humans as persons? Would it be morally wrong to treat a technical
non-person as a non-person? If so, why? And who would be wronged
or harmed by such an action? If not, why not? And do we have any moral
reasons not to treat technical non-persons as persons?
Are there any social reasons why we should
treat technically non-person humans as persons? Would treating
them as non-persons cause any social problems? If so, what exactly would
those problems be? Is preventing those problems enough to justify treating
technically
non-person humans as persons? Or is there some reason why we should quit
treating technically non-person humans as persons and accept the
social problems that follow?
Do we treat technically non-person humans
as persons out of habit? Is it just because we somehow got into
that way of treatin them without rationally thinking about whether we really
should or shouldn't do it?
Overall, why do we treat technically
non-person humans as persons?
Overall, should we treat technically
non-person humans as persons?
You can try to create a coherent essay on this
topic, or you can ramble over a series of disconnected random thoughts.
Either is fine so long as you take the time to explain your reasons once
in a while. You are graded on the quality of your thinking, which includes
your ability to generate insightful comments as well as your ability to
give reasons for what you think. Never hesitate to put down a thought,
even if you can't support it at this time. Do what you can as well as you
can.
Copyright © 2006 by Martin C. Young
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