What Is a Person? : Brain Function and Moral Status

      At a time when technology can sustain marginal life, it is ever more
        important to understand what constitutes a person. What are the medical,
        ethical, moral, mental, legal, and philosophical criteria that determine
        protectable human life?
      Following immediately on the publication of his highly praised book Choosing
        Who's to Live, James Walters addresses with depth and wisdom another
        ambitious and complicated matter: determining the nature of personhood.
        By providing a much-needed religious/philosophical context for the discussion--examining
        contemporary thinking on just what constitutes valuable life--Walters
        broadens his inquiry beyond the human to include other animals and deals
        with the phenomenon of anencephalic infants, those who are born without
        higher brains.
      Searching for a measurable and humane standard of personhood, Walters
        looks at the current definition of it and declares it inadequate--offering
        instead the idea of proximate personhood, with criteria for helping to
        determine which individuals possess a unique claim to life.
 

When does a person qualify for protected and continuing life? At a time when technology can sustain marginal life, it is ever more important to understand what constitutes a person. What are the medical, ethical, mental, legal, and philosophical criteria that determine protectable human life? By providing a much-needed religious/philosophical context for the discussion - examining contemporary thinking on just what constitutes valuable life - Walters broadens his inquiry beyond the human to include other animals and also deals with the phenomenon of anencephalic infants, those who are born without higher brains. Searching for a measurable and humane standard of personhood, Walters looks at its current definition and declares it inadequate. He offers instead the idea of proximate personhood, with criteria for helping to determine which individuals possess a unique claim to life.