On becoming a person

Journal/Book: Philos Psychol. 1999; 12: PO Box 25, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England Ox14 3Ue. Carfax Publ Co. 79-98.

Abstract: How does an entity become a person? Forty years ago Carl Rogers answered this question by suggesting that human beings become persons through a process of personal growth and self-discovery. In the present paper I provide six different answers to this question, which form a hierarchy of elllpirical projects and associated criteria that can be used to understand human personhood. They, are: (I) persons are constructed out of natural bur organic materials; (2) persons emerge as a form of adaptation through the process of evolution; (3) persons develop ontogenetically; (4) persons are created through the unifying activity of self-narrative; (5) persons are constituted through socio-historical and cultural processes; and (6) the concept of person is a normative ideal. I suggest that it is important to consider all of these projects and related criteria in order to appreciate fully how an entity becomes a human person.

Note: Article Barresi J, Dalhousie Univ, Dept Psychol, Halifax, NS B3H 4J1, CANADA

Keyword(s): SELF; REPRESENTATION; PERSPECTIVE; KNOWLEDGE; MIND

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