This may seem like an idle question.

It is not.

Let me elucidate.

You are a human being - man or woman. Let’s ignore the question of age and not slip into dichotomy of child and adult… whether you are ten years old, twenty years old, thirty years old, older or younger than those - matters not: you are male or female and therefore man or woman. Let us leave it at that.

Let us consider another, say General Petraeus - he’s still around, as I write this. Is General Petraeus a man, or a woman? We may say that General Petraeus is a man, may we not? I proceed on the basis that we may indeed do so.

We’re almost there. Bear with me a few moments longer.

Now. Let us consider another General. This time, let’s say… General Electric. Is General Electric a man, or a woman?

Well?

I say that the answer to this question is: Neither; General Electric is neither man nor woman.

You might say General Electric is a “company”, or a “corporation”, as many people would.

With a little knowledge (always dangerous, doncha know) you might add one more label: General Electric is a person. Yes. Under “the law”, for certain purposes, a corporation is defined to be a person. After all, “corporation” means, quite literally, “something made into a body”.

We are now back to the original question - What is a “person”?

Are you a “person”? Most of us would say “yes”… and yet… clearly there is some difference between considering yourself a “man” or “woman” and considering yourself a “person”. This difference is, or may be, extremely important. In what context are you, as a “person”, and General Electric, as a “person”, the same? And in what context are you different from General Electric?

Consider: you can be charged with murder, brought to trial, and even killed if found guilty. General Electric, on the other hand, cannot. Obviously, there is some form of “the law” that applies to you as a man or woman but does not apply to you as a “person.”

There must then also be some form of “the law” that applies to both you and General Electric, as “persons”, but does not apply to you as a human.

The key to finding the differences appear to lie in finding the meaning of “person”.

If you have ever had anything to do with theatre, you are probably aware that the character of a role is often described as its “persona”, and you may also be aware that the term has generally been used for the “mask” worn by the player of the role. In fact, in the development of the Greek theatre, the actors wore actual masks when performing, and the very word “persona” means, literally “to sound through”, coming from the fact that the player spoke wirds through the mounth-hole in the mask.

The important point to take with you from this is that the “person” is fictional. The “person” does not exist as a real, actual, living and breathing human being… only as a fiction,

Remember this fact, the next time some fictional entity invites you to appear “in person”.

You Should Also Check Out This Post:

More Active Posts: