Sorry to be boring and bring up ANOTHER heavy topic, but this is a really interesting story I was told by a friend a few days ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usman is a builder, and a living man - he can think for himself, calculate simple mathematical problems, enjoy a crossword, he can feel physical and emotional pain, his heart beats. One day while working on a house a beam falls and he has to have his leg amputated. The next day, he is crushed under a truck and his leg and one arm are removed.

 

 

 

But the next day, a doorframe falls and lands on his neck. His is left as a torso, his heart continuing to beat, but without his brain. At which point in the story did Usman stop being a living being? When did he stop being human? Is there any point in him continuing living? Would it be right to kill his heart?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit - He is kept alive and nutrition is supplied by a machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, this is a really interesting topic and going by the theory that a man (or woman for that matter) is made from four parts, Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, and Intellectual, what is a human?

 

 

 

So please, let's try and enjoy it... and NO FLAMING would be nice, obviously. Let's all be nice. :thumbsup:

well he can't be alive as he has no brain...with no brain, his heart wouldn't pump therefore no living for mr unlucky builder....

Don't have a proper response, but a related question is that one about the ship:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a ship. One day it gets damaged so some planks are added to patch it up. This continues for several years, it gets damaged and new wood is added to fix it. Eventually, not a single plank of the original ship remains - at which point did it stop being the original ship?

He is kept alive and nutrition is supplied by a machine.

I dont think you can even argue euthenasia at that point

oh, well, if you're just gonna change your story..... but yeah, unless he can think for himself, he aint a person, just a human being.

Let him die, who would want to kept alive by a machine and just suffer? If i couldnt think, the choice is euthanasia (sp?)

Don't have a proper response, but a related question is that one about the ship:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a ship. One day it gets damaged so some planks are added to patch it up. This continues for several years, it gets damaged and new wood is added to fix it. Eventually, not a single plank of the original ship remains - at which point did it stop being the original ship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Problem of the Argo! Is a restored national monument, like the house of a famous person, still his house?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original problem...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bioethicist by the name of Mary Anne Warren gave 5 different factors to consider to determine "personhood." The first 2, she claimed, were necessary. The third was probably necessary - and the last two should be heavily considered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Consciousness - conscious of forces internal or external. The ability to experience pain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The ability to reason - the capacity to solve new and complex problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Self-motivated activity that is independent of external forces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Capacity to communicate by whatever means.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Presence of a self-concept and self-awareness.

I believe that in order to exist, one needs both the body and the brain. The brain cannot live without the body and the body cannot live without the brain. In your example, I don't think the guy should be alive anymore. Sure he's ALIVE because technically his heart is still beating, but I think that without the brain, it isn't right for the body to exist.

Don't have a proper response, but a related question is that one about the ship:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a ship. One day it gets damaged so some planks are added to patch it up. This continues for several years, it gets damaged and new wood is added to fix it. Eventually, not a single plank of the original ship remains - at which point did it stop being the original ship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be off-topic I could say that a tenth of a second after the original ship is built, it is something different. It is older, more micro-organisms have been collected and washed away, the sail might have moved in the wind. You could say that in terms of characteristics it is a completely new ship.

2. The ability to reason - the capacity to solve new and complex problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you're not a person if you're asleep, unconscious, or mentally challenged?

 

2. The ability to reason - the capacity to solve new and complex problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you're not a person if you're asleep, unconscious, or mentally challenged?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might not be able to express them, but possibly, mentally challenged people can reason, even if they can't express their thoughts? I may be wrong.

 

2. The ability to reason - the capacity to solve new and complex problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you're not a person if you're asleep, unconscious, or mentally challenged?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe she would argue that those who are asleep or unconscious and still contain the ability to reason - as in a potential ability - are still persons. However, (and I'm not 100% positive about her entire theories) I believe she offers different "degrees" of person hood for children, infants, the elderly, and the mentally challenged.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Not my theory, just a popular one, by the way.)

Don't have a proper response, but a related question is that one about the ship:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a ship. One day it gets damaged so some planks are added to patch it up. This continues for several years, it gets damaged and new wood is added to fix it. Eventually, not a single plank of the original ship remains - at which point did it stop being the original ship?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd say the ship never stopped being the original ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the original problem. As soon as he is brain dead, the only thing the machines are keeping alive is his body. That serves no purpose at all, unless in the highly unlikely case that he'd return to his body. Actually i don't see a problem here at all. As long as his soul remains in his body he is a person. Afterwards the body is just living tissue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, this is a really interesting topic and going by the theory that a man (or woman for that matter) is made from four parts, Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, and Intellectual, what is a human?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well a human is an entity composed of those four parts. Without the pysical part it's a spirit. Or what is the exact question?