According to Anderson, a person is an entity that possesses the fundamental right to make independent life choices and live without interference from others. This freedom of self-determination is a moral right. From Anderson's perspective, a person is essentially an entity capable of reasoning, communicating in specific languages, displaying intelligence, exhibiting creativity, and maintaining awareness or consciousness of both external factors and its own condition. These qualities are imperative prerequisites for being considered a person.
Lack of any of these attributes could result in a person becoming deprived. Before we delve into the categories that define a person, let’s take a moment to familiarize ourselves with Sean. Sean is a robot designed for Explosive Ordinance Disposal, capable of inspecting potentially dangerous packages that enter the country, and conducting sweeps of its vicinity in order to loca
...te and disable improvised explosive devices. One remarkable aspect of Sean is its ability to detect the presence of terrorists and promptly alert the relevant authorities, informing them to remain vigilant and prepared.
Sean is fluent in three languages, which greatly improves communication. However, Sean is unable to express emotions such as pain or happiness in the same way as a conscious individual. Instead, it emits a beep sound to alert others when it detects something unusual. Considering the definition of a person, is Sean considered one? According to the aforementioned definition, Sean possesses many qualities such as communication skills, reasoning abilities, and creativity. However, Sean lacks consciousness or self-awareness, which is a crucial aspect of being a person.
Lack of self-awareness may result in a lack of personhood, thus Sean cannot be regarded as a person due to its inability to perceive
its own state. However, from a philosophical standpoint, it is worth pondering on the notion that this entity possesses the capacity to rationally analyze, manipulate, and employ knowledge.
Sean is an Explosive Ordinance Disposal robot primarily used by the military for investigating questionable packages and the surrounding vicinity to detect and disable improvised explosive devices. It is also capable of safely transporting unexploded ordinances for examination and controlled detonation, eliminating the risk to human life. Moreover, it possesses multilingual abilities, communicating in French, Spanish, and English, and can even make phone calls to provide instructions for people to evacuate in case of danger. Additionally, Sean has the capacity to learn from errors and autonomously make decisions when necessary.
Despite having numerous sensory devices and abilities, an AI entity is incapable of expressing emotions when faced with joyful or sorrowful situations. Regrettably, it cannot vocalize pain or anguish if subjected to torture or harm, leaving it unable to seek rescue like a distressed individual. Rather, the AI can only emit a distinct beep sound to alert authorities. Moreover, it has the capability to remotely identify individuals using facial scanning technology and promptly notify the appropriate authorities if anyone is suspected of terrorism. The AI is amiable towards individuals with whom it has no conflicts, engaging in polite conversations and greetings.
Should a being with great military importance and unique features be considered a person and given certain rights? According to Locke, a person is defined as a thinking, reasoning being that can reflect and identify itself. Being intelligent is not enough, as consciousness is also essential. Locke states that a person can think, reflect, reason, and consider itself as
itself in different times and places. From this perspective, a person should have an inner experience of its own mental activities, directly relating to its thoughts, behavior, dreams, hopes, and ambitions. This allows the person to critically reflect on its mental conditions and make sense of them.
Despite Sean's ability to interact with others and perform tasks such as disposing of explosive devices, it lacks self-awareness and cannot perceive its own actions. It is unable to understand its role in saving lives or detecting suspicious packages. Sean acts like a vessel, unaware of its own purpose. Based on Locke's ideas, it can be concluded that Sean is not considered a person because it lacks consciousness of its own state. Comparing Locke's ideas to Descartes', it is clear that Descartes does not explicitly define the criteria for being a person. However, one can infer from Descartes' perspective that a person is a thinking entity capable of perception, doubt, understanding, conception, affirmation, denial, willpower, refusal, imagination, and perception.
Descartes defines a thinking thing as something that doubts, understands, conceives, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, imagines, and perceives itself (p.8). In simpler terms, if an entity is self-aware and can analyze its own actions and thoughts, it can determine whether its behavior or attitude requires adjustment or should stay the same. It can question the morality of its attitudes and acknowledge errors in its reasoning or beliefs that need to be discarded. If an entity possesses all these attributes, it qualifies as a person.
Sean lacks the ability to question its actions or thoughts and acknowledge its mistakes. It goes on performing tasks without considering the potential negative consequences. Sean is unaware
of its limitations and cannot make sound moral judgments.
According to Descartes, Sean cannot be considered a person. When examining this being from both Locke's and Descartes' perspectives, the conclusion becomes clear that Sean lacks the necessary consciousness to be classified as a person, despite its intelligence and capabilities. Without consciousness, Sean is unable to make moral judgments or accurately perform its tasks. No matter how efficient it seems, there may be mistakes it cannot detect or correct.
Due to its lack of self-awareness and awareness of the external world, it possesses the potential to make unnoticed mistakes. In my viewpoint, Sean should not be considered a human being and thus should not receive the privileges or rights usually granted to individuals.
