Moral Significance of Personhood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Moral Significance of Personhood - Essay Example It was John Locke who cut loose the conceptual strands that held together the personal and biological dimensions of humanity in his essay, Of Identity and Diversity. It was this along with his assumption that not all human beings may be persons that launched the debate in regard to the human ascendancy over other beings. The teleological argument has been largely done away with as advances in reproductive technology, medical genetics, and treatments continually assail the rationality of God and his hand in the affairs of the humans. As biological science discover the marvels of the human body, scientists and modern philosophers are emboldened to deny the Creator-variable and the soul, citing the brain as fundamental in the existence of the human reason. Michael Tooley (2001) presented the functional definition of personhood with his dissection of the brain. Here, he outlined that the brain is scientifically divided into two regions and that the upper part is mainly responsible for the personhood of a person: The upper brain†¦ contains the neuron-psychological basis not only of higher mental functions such as self-consciousness, deliberation, thought and memory but also of consciousness of even the most rudimentary sort. (p. 117) The destruction of this region, say in an accident or as a result of a disease, is tantamount not just to the destruction of certain general capacities but of states that underlie personal identity as well. This basis of personhood follows a utilitarian or functional approach.