PHIL 120W Lecture Notes - Brain Death, 3 Lbs, Cerebral Cortex
18 Nov 2012
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Peter singer article ( animal liberation") page 616. Views: personhood with respect to animals, utiltarianism (can they experience pain or suffering?) (singer) Person philosophical concept (what are their capacities?) Criteria of personhood: rational, self-awareness (i. e. , dogs and cats don"t recognize themselves in the mirror; higher animals such as animals do, know your past-future, controls behaviour, capable of conceptual thought (language) It is possible to be a human being but not a person (i. e. , brain dead or schizophrenic). Person are taken away if you are brain dead and sometimes if you are severely mentally ill. Taking someone off life support is not considered murder because they have lost the title of person . A brain dead person (vegetable) was able to register things. i. e. , he was able to communicate in some way. Similar structure (i. e. , females band together, males go off as a collective group)
