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References
Phillip Cole, “Problems with Persons”,Res Publica III/2 (1997), 165–83.
A first, small — but important — point to note is that while the concept of the person may well be rightly said “to play a central role” in the bioethics of Harris, and maybe of Singer and others, it can hardly be said “to play a central role in medical ethics”; nor does it constitute a “dominant view” in bioethics. Medical ethics is now a world-wide phenomenon, practised in most countries not only by philosophers and academics, but by health professionals, politicians, bureaucrats, journalists and many others. Most of the major religions have developed a distinctive approach to bioethics and the literature is not dominated by any one approach or “philosophy”. The relatively small group of bioethicists who find a central place for the concept of a person or for “personhood” are by no means central to bioethics, nor even to Anglo-Australian bioethics.
, at 166.
, at 171f.
Original emphasis.
, at 173f.
Of course, with human persons we don't normally go through any process of recognition of personhood at all. We simply see most humans immediately as persons; their being persons is part of what we see when we identify them as humans. But that does not mean that there are not some humans that we wrongly recognise as persons, nor that there are not some persons whom we don't (easily) recognise as persons because they're not human.
, at 174f.
John Harris,The Value of Life (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985).
, at 177.
See myWonderwoman and Superman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), ch.5.
For an interesting discussion of these issues see F.M. Kamm,Morality, Mortality (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), chs. 1–3.
“I rather choose/to wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you/Than I will wrong such honourable me.”: W. Shakespeare,Julius Caesar, Act III Scene II.
“Duncan is in his grave; /After life's fitful fever he sleeps well; /not steel, nor poison, /Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing/Can touch him further.”: W. Shakespeare,Macbeth, Act III Scene II.
, at 177.
, at 176. If we are not going to beg any questions, that should of course read “individual”.
There are alleged cases of late recovery from PVS. I am assuming there is no possibility of that in this case.
There may be fates worse than death but they are few and far between.
I am grateful to Justine Burley for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
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Harris, J. Four legs good, personhood better!. Res Publica 4, 51–58 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334932
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02334932