Suntem pregătiți pentru persoanele non-umane? Omul, animalul și robotul

Abstract

The essay investigates the premises of the broadening of the notion of
“person” beyond the human species, in two converging directions: (a) the approach
of some animals to the “person zone” through relevant behaviors and cognitive
capacities; (b) the emergence of artificial entities capable of cognitive performances
that can rival those of humans. The argument is built around three landmarks: (1)
the world/Umwelt as its own mode of emergence; (2) “world” as a dynamic that
establishes meanings and relations; (3) the distance (historical and ontological)
between the meanings that animals and humans have in the world. On this basis, I
discuss to what extent a legal fiction of the “as if” type (in the spirit of the
“intentional stance”) can support the recognition of gradual forms of non-human
personhood. I conclude that the responsible expansion of the framework of the
person is possible without trivializing essential differences and without dissolving
humanism, although it modifies its traditional hierarchies.