A prevalent argument in contemporary bioethics asserts that human beings only possess moral value and personhood once they achieve a certain threshold of self-awareness or cognitive functionality. Under this view, an embryo, a newborn, or an individual in a coma is treated as a biological organism rather than a full Person.
The Danger of Functionalism
This is functionalism applied to moral ontology, and its consequences are catastrophic. If your right to life and dignity is contingent upon your current cognitive output, then personhood is no longer an inherent reality—it is an earned privilege granted by society's gatekeepers.
What happens when a person falls asleep? What happens when a genius suffers temporary brain trauma? Their functional capacity dips, but their Personhood remains intact. A human being does not oscillate between being a Person and an object based on a mental performance test.
“Personhood is not a functional achievement; it is an ontological identity. Human beings have dignity because of what they are, not because of what they produce.”
At Dimension of Thought, we affirm the sacred and inviolable value of every human person across every stage of life. True civilization protects the vulnerable precisely because their dignity is rooted in being, not utility.
Reflections on the Essay
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