Understanding the Human Person: Philosophical Perspectives

The Concept of Person

The word "person" comes from the Greek prosopon, which translates as "mask." The Greeks used it to refer to someone's appearance or figure, behind which the true self was hidden. The term was introduced into Christianity to refer to the individual and specific character of each human being, contrasting with the undifferentiated nature of people in antiquity. In this sense, Boethius defined a person as "an individual substance of a rational nature." Kant pointed out that to be a person is to be primarily free, i.e., able to be autonomous or self-legislating. In the twentieth century, philosophers established that the concept of person must be the key and central theme around which all philosophical reflection revolves. Philosophical thought believes the person is a spiritual and material substance at once, endowed with dignity that allows for growth throughout life, that must be recognized by all, open to the reality around them, and especially directed toward communication with other human beings.

Dimensions of the Human Being

The human being is characterized by having a unique dimension: being individual, with personal traits that mark and define them apart from other animal species. However, while individual, the human being also needs to live with others, hence their social dimension. Thirdly, human beings perceive the past, present, and future, and project themselves from this understanding of life. This includes a historical dimension.

Personal Dimensions and Consciousness

A human being is characterized as a rational, civic animal, endowed with soul, spirit, thought, or mind. Today, we prefer to define it as a personal reality. As a person, the human being has a number of characteristics:

• Possessing freedom: Though subject to biological, psychological, and historical influences.
• Being responsible: For their actions.
• Being aware: Of their surroundings and their mental states.

As for freedom, if we are not speaking of absolute freedom for the human being, it is a freedom limited by previously identified constraints. We could even distinguish between freedom from and freedom of choice, the latter being that which manifests in the acts we perform, and which depends on our surroundings.

Human consciousness has been defined in several ways:

• As a psychological capacity to reflect on itself.
• As the capacity to receive information from its own environment.
• As we become aware of our own mental states, even though there are also unconscious mental states.

Three levels of consciousness are distinguished in living beings:

1. Biochemical individuality awareness: Consists of receiving information from the environment and acting as a biochemical whole.
2. Neural individuality awareness (e.g., chimpanzees): Whose nervous system enables them to recognize themselves against others and their environment, attempting to control it.
3. Neural individuality awareness (human): By which humans are aware of the meaning of things and their possibilities, recognizing themselves as an "I," with continuity over time, and with a personal identity.