Abstract

This dissertation deals with the question of whether the term 'person' can be given an adequate, consistent, and not merely stipulative definition. 'Person' is analyzed in light of historical and philosophical treatments in Locke, Rousseau, and Kant, among others. The lack of consensus in the bioethics literature is illustrated and explained. Arguments are given for using a radically different approach to personhood than the prevailing approach in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions. 'Person' is approached as a vague term, consistent with analyses by Max Black and C. S. Peirce, and is shown to qualify as what W. B. Gallie called an "essentially contested concept," one which is essentially appraisive, constitutes an achievement, and is ideological or politically practical enough to warrant continuing open debate. ;A conceptual tool from linguistics, distinctive feature analysis, is used in place of analysis in essentialist terms. A new, dynamic model of the quality of clinical care is provided, in addition to a consensus-building theory of the person. ;Data presented in the empirical portion of this study are based on detailed responses from several hundred people interviewed concerning what was important in making each of them a person rather than a non-person; other questions addressed other aspects of the quality of their medical care. Twenty-six features are analyzed based upon the responses of several hundred liberal arts undergraduates, student nurses in their clinical rotations, physicians, residents in family practice at an outpatient clinic, and their patients. Attention to the personal features of the patient is shown to be related to the highest quality-of-care ratings by the physicians. ;The last section begins to apply the distinctive features theory of personhood, examining social and political uses of notions of the person: in South African public education, in medical education, and in community, as articulated in the diaries of New York State Governor Mario Matthew Cuomo and in some recent policies of the Cuomo Administration. A medical malpractice case, , non-eligibility of the fetus for its own Medicaid abortion, and legislation legalizing and standardizing medical orders not to resuscitate are discussed