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Tyler Zagarella
Discussion 10
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I believe there are a few different factors that make someone a person. The ability to communicate and share experiences with other people is a key element. I also think that having the ability to have a conscious awareness of your surroundings and observing the world with our senses provides us with a sense of reality and makes us people. I believe that any creature that is capable of these things in any way could be considered alive, however i would not go as far as calling something like a bug a person. That being said a bug has experiences, forms of communication, and seems to be conscious of the world through a different lens, therefore it is alive and a living creature. Humans are given treatments and rights that differ from other living creatures due to our level of evolution and awareness to existence. We expect as humans to be treated fairly and respectfully. Not all humans who exist experience this, however it is how we have determined to treat each other. I agree with Thomas Berry’s writing about the soul. The soul is a critical element in human existence and I believe when we feel things the way we do as humans, physically or emotionally, we feel alive. However I agree that life is more about an organic and mechanical existence and the soul he is speaking of pertains to how healthy of a lifestyle we live is.
MallaidhGartlan
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I believe that someone is a person when they have the ability to use their self-consciousness and think rationally (or have the ability to reason). In order for someone to be a person, they must be a human physically. For instance, a dog can have self-consciousness and be able to think rationally, however (as we all know) a dog is not a person. I would consider all humans to be a person. All people should be given human rights and humane treatment. Some examples of the rights that a person should receive include: freedom of speech, the right to education, civil and political rights, privacy, freedom from discrimination, the right to health, and freedom of religion/beliefs. A person should be treated with respect and should also be treated justly. There have been many instances throughout human history where people would consider other races to not be a person. An example of this could be when white plantation owners in early America considered African people to be inferior and utterly “not a person.” The result of this was slavery and inhumane treatment of African people. The same thing could be said about the way German Nazi’s felt about Jewish people. It is sad to say, however there are many people in the world that still hold these beliefs. All in all, every human is a person and therefore should be treated like one. Lastly,
I personally agree with the “Taylor, Respect for Nature” material. I agree with this material because it breaks down the faults of the Cartesian belief system. For instance, the Cartesian way of distinguishing between human beings and other animals is based on the belief that humans are both physical and mental beings while animals are only physical. Paul W. Taylor states that “Not only do mammals give early evidence of the capacity to feel pleasure and pain, but both their external and behavior and their internal structure of their brains/nervous systems indicate that they can experience many kinds of emotions (Taylor, 1986).” I also agree with the “They’re Made Out of Meat” video. I agree with this video because it shows how naïve our thinking and beliefs can be sometimes. For example, the aliens in this video were having a hard time believing that something made out of “meat” could be intelligent, therefore they ignored the possible abilities of us humans.
The material that I disagree with is Descartes’ meditation 5. In this mediation, Descartes implies that since God is true, he cannot be a deceiver. This would mean that Descartes would acquire “perfect” knowledge. He believes that everything that he is able to clearly and distinctly conceive is true. I personally disagree with this way of thinking because it is entirely based on the existence of God. Also, I think that this way of thinking might be outdated in today’s society.
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Joseph Volpi- Discussion 10
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There are various conceptual underpinnings of what being a person really is. For example, a person can be seen as a human being, or someone who is cognitive of the world and life around them, as well as their own life. On the other hand, being a person can mean anyone or thing who is living, such as animals in nature, as they hold the criterion for what a person should be like (Taylor, 1986). This article conceptualizes that all beings in nature are people, and therefore not all person must be human in general. Mainly, humans can be distinct from other animals in physical features, but many of the mental aspects such as awareness are mostly the same prospects.
I personally agree with Wendell Berry by seeing the approach of where he is coming from with the literature. More specifically, the fact that he mentioned the body is like a machine, when the mind is not. That is, the body works as machine by performing physical, as well as internal movements. I agree with this it is true at face value, the body is like a machine in the way of wasting materials, providing new materials in order to stay alive, and needing activity in order to remain equilibrized in total functionality.
He also mentions that a mind is nothing like a machine, because it needs certain things to make it function as a machine. In other words, the mind cannot function without thoughts, which I think is also agreeably right.
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