Defining Personhood: Understanding the Concept and Its Moral Significance
The question of what it means to be a person is crucial in philosophy. According to Pirnazarov (2021), a person is a moral agent capable of making rational judgments according to the demands of the society to which they belong. A person will discern whether or not an action is morally correct or if the action violates any prescribed directives. Consequently, the person will choose the action with more utility to avoid breaking existing rules or regulations. For instance, a person will decide to do the right thing even when no one is watching. Essentially, the conviction to do right or wrong stems from an inherent understanding of what is required.
Moreover, a person is tasked with preserving morals in society. The philosophical term strays from the general understanding of “person” as it links the individual to multiple societal elements that he needs to keep functioning. In an intellectual sense, the definition helps model society by foregrounding how people should act in various societal spaces. Additionally, any wrongdoing may be punishable. Therefore, a person embodies morals and is part of a society that dwells in laws and rules.
Criteria for Personhood: Evaluating the Five Main Standards
Philosophers and ethicists have proposed various criteria to determine what constitutes personhood. The five criteria of personhood are consciousness, rationality, verbal communication capacity, capacity for reciprocity, and self-consciousness (Dobreski & Kwasnik, 2021). Rationality entails acting based on reason and logic, whereas consciousness is awareness of one’s surroundings. Capacity for verbal communication is the ability to use words, phrases, or tones to converse with others. Verbal communication is among people’s interpersonal interactions to convey information and establish meaningful bonds. Capacity for reciprocation is the human ability to give and receive phenomena, such as love and kindness, while self-consciousness is awareness of one’s body and its reaction to stimuli. All criteria are fundamental in instilling moral behavior.
I believe that rationality is a genuine criterion of personhood for several reasons. First, a person can engage others with civility when they act rationally. By so doing, conflicts can be minimized, and people can form valuable bonds. Moreover, cultural diversity warrants rationality as the modern world has many cultures at work, school, or social spaces. In this case, acting rationally can avoid infringing on others’ rights while respecting their beliefs, values, and worldviews. Diverse people bear varying ways of communication and interaction; thus, rationality increases tolerance for ambiguity.
Consciousness and AI: The Implications of Physicalism and Functionalism
Physicalism argues that life only exists in the physical realm, whereas functionalism maintains that mental states are identifiable through their functional roles. If physicalism and functionalism are true, then physical and functional aspects explain mental states. This implies that if humans can create an artificial system with the same physical and functional properties as a human brain, then it should be possible for that system to produce a mind, a consciousness.
Artificial intelligence (AI) supports properties similar to the human brain, meaning AI can create a mind and consciousness. AI solves problems and makes hardware functioning possible, just like the human brain. In this regard, AI can experience emotions similar to those experienced by the human brain.
References
Dobreski, B., & Kwasnik, B. H. (2021). Dimensions of personhood in cultural heritage: Who (or what) gets to be called a person?Education for Information, 37(4), 409-426. Web.
Pirnazarov, N. (2021). Structural model of spirituality as a philosophical phenomenon. Adam alemi, 88(2), 10-17. Web.