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Quote by: Pale RIder ...what is the difference between a human being and a person. |
Personhood is a legal fiction designed to explain human beings relationships with each other. IOW, the term "human being" is used to explain and differentiate people from all other species of life, whereas "person" differentiates a person from all other human beings. Interestingly, in our society people have opted to give personhood to corporations, governmental entities, and other non-living things, but not to recognize it in unborn humans.
Since legal persons aren't human, it serves to illustrate that our society bases the dignity of man not on personhood, but rather the biological reality that our species of life is different from all others. Furthermore, and for a variety of reasons, we hold our species of life worthy of preserving above all others.
So the "life begins at conception" debate is really the clashing of two forces at work in our society. The first holds that since the unborn child is human, it deserves at least the same legal protections as those afforded even to non-human persons. The second force holds the opposite view, namely that personhood does not rely on the inherent dignity of humanity, but rather exists only at the pleasure of other humans.
Now we see there really are two camps of people - one recognizes and upholds the inherent dignity of humanity, and one that doesn't...