WHAT IS IT TO BE A PERSON?
WHAT IS IT TO BE A PERSON?
Author(s): Mohammadreza TahmasbiSubject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: Person; Reflexive self-consciousness; Criterialism; First potentialities; Second potentialities.
Summary/Abstract: I will deal with the synchronic question of persons to clarify the necessary and sufficient conditions for being a person. Having reflexive self-consciousness is both the necessary and sufficient conditions for being a person. I discuss the relationship between having reflexive self-consciousness and the other properties which uniquely belong to persons ‘i.e.,’ being a moral agent, being a rational agent and having free will. A problem arises when one defines a person based on having reflexive self-consciousness. “Is a sleeping human being still a person?” To resolve the problem, I will appeal to Aristotle’s distinction between first and second potentialities.
Journal: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Philosophia
- Issue Year: 60/2015
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 19-40
- Page Count: 22