Person is a technical terms, it doesnt equal human.

Human is a biological term.

Person is a moral term.
Persons are beings that are part of a moral community.
Is superman a person? Yes, but not a human.
Humanity is not what makes someone a person.
You can surrender your personhood.
What must one possess to be part of our moral community.
Newman - genetic theory argument of personhood (if you have DNA, you are a human.)
Mary Anne Warren: 5 reasons that constitute personhood; (cognitive criteria) (e.g; fetuses)
- Consciousness
- Reasoning
- Self motivated activity (volition)
- Capacity to communicate
- Self awareness
(more inclusive and accepted personhood)
Social Criteria: (society recognizing you as a person, or when someone cares about you)
Peter Singer: Key to personhood is sentience, the ability to feel pleasure and pain
Personhood being a right? Can be taken away when violating morality?
Gradient Theory: Personhood comes in degrees, some can have more or less of it
X x x meep -----------
Ethics - branch of philosophy that studies morality, or right and wrong behavior
Metaethics - studies foundation of morality itself
Moral realism - there a moral facts and the view that there are moral choices, there is a right,
there is a wrong
Grounding problem - the search for foundation for our moral beliefs, something solid that would
make them true in a way that is clear, objective, and unmoving. Whats the foundation?
No grounding = moral antirealism
Moral antirealism = the belief that moral propositions dont refer to objective features of the
world at all - that there are no moral facts (subjective morality)
Forms of realism:
- Moral Absolutism: there are absolute standards against which moral questions can
be judged
- Moral Relativism: more than one moral position on a given topic can be correct
- Cultural Relativism: peoples moral beliefs differ from culture to culture
Moral Antirealism: no real facts
- Moral subjectivism: moral statements can be true or false, right or wrong, but they
refer only to peoples attitudes rather than their actions
e.g ; capital punishment
Moral frameworks: Ethical Theories
Natural Law Theory - relies on the starting assumption that god created the universe according
to a well-ordered plan
(e.g; incest, death penalty)
Utilitarianism - all beings like pleasure and want to avoid pain