Highest Law of Personhood

*This was originally published on my personal blog in 2019. It has been edited as necessary.

When it comes down to it, how I view people, the underlying principles that guide how I interact with and view them and whether I mentally approve of their behavior or not (not that it really matters), have always been there. But it’s time for me to set them down and explain them in an orderly, logical fashion. This will serve two purposes: one) to give me a guiding point when I encounter unfamiliar situations that ensures I remain in keeping with my principles and two) gives me mental peace that my principles are consistent with one in another.

Question: What Makes a Person?

To be quite honest my guiding principle is: personhood and humanity. It’s simple, respect someone’s personhood and humanity. But what is personhood? What is humanity? And how do these things play out in my political views and opinions on everything under the sun? What happens if you don’t have it, if your behavior means you violate the respective characteristics of these things and thus you no longer have them?

Person Making #1: Humanity

We are all human. That is to say there is one race, the human race. We are sentient, we can think (sometimes), and so we use this to differentiate us from other mammals. Being human affords you privileges. Rights. Whether by a creator or by virtue of your existence, being human gives you the right to direct your own life however you choose. As long as those directions don’t interfere with another person’s right to direct their own life. If you want to do something stupid, as long as it doesn’t interfere with someone else’s rights, I should have no say in the matter. Humanity is something held in common, something that connects us to our fellow humans through society and culture. Human rights are broad rights, the right to do what we want, when we want, as long as it doesn’t interfere with another human’s rights in those things. The right to liberty, the right to not be restricted or infringed on.

Person Making #2: Personhood

We are all people, something we hold in common, and yet something so intimate and personal. This is the view of individual, the focus on the one. The individual, the person, exists in the web of society, one of…

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