7th l o s t s o u l ~ [Voice]

[mmmfilletofsoul]

[The last event left Cheyenne in a weird place and since then, she's been rather scarce around the village. Aside from getting food at one of the village restaurants, she's spent most of her time either in her apartment or in the forests just outside the village. Today, she's actually back to her usual spot: sitting on the edge of one of Luceti's

Comments

[voice]

[generalflirt]

[...]

Eh, a person, Cheyenne-chan?

[voice]

[mmmfilletofsoul]

[There's a slight pause before she answers.]

Yes. A person. I am curious to see how others would define it.

[voice]

[generalflirt]

Isn't that just in how someone sees someone else? If a pervert can fall in love with a monster, then a "person" can be pretty much anything.

[voice]

[mmmfilletofsoul]

[...]

[Somehow she always ends up making this face when they talk.]

I fail to see the connection between those statements.

voice;

[chronica]

To act humane.

voice;

[mmmfilletofsoul]

By humane, would you mean to act as a human does?

voice;

[chronica]

Precisely. Someone can look human and be human, but if they do not act it then they are not human.

voice;

[mmmfilletofsoul]

Then by your definition, if one is not acting human, they are not a person?

[voice]

[winged_moon]

I think it means something different to everyone. How you define yourself as a person wouldn't necessarily be how I do.

[voice]

[mmmfilletofsoul]

That is correct. And that is why I have chosen such a wide audience to ask. I did not assume all answers would be the same.

[voice]

[winged_moon]

Ah, so you're just taking a poll? Not looking for an answer for yourself?

[voice]

[mmmfilletofsoul]

I suppose that is one way to putting it. It is something I have been thinking about quite a lot lately.

voice;

[mmmfilletofsoul]

There is no need to apologize.

So, you do not think there is necessarily a connection between being a human and being a person?

voice;

[mmmfilletofsoul]

A soul? [For a moment, she almost looks amused.] That is a rather broad definition. Many creatures have souls, but all might not be capable of being thought of as a person.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[Here, have a guy who has this question forefront in his mind much of the time.]

I think that a person is any individual or collective-being who possesses sapience, by Terran definition. A person does not have to look, act like, resemble or in any way emulate a human to be a person - a common misconception by those of my own species.

Additionally, there are many kinds of sapience; not all of them are human-like. In fact, many kinds of sapience are much different from human sapience.

[As an astrobiologist - and the boyfriend of a non-human sapient - these questions are extremely important to him.]

[Voice]

[mmmfilletofsoul]

...I don't suppose I could trouble you for your definition of "sapience"?

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

It is a relatively broad category, but... to try to generalize in some fashion, sapience is a cognitive state achieved by an organism - or organisms acting as a collective - when some combination of the following characteristics is reached: metacognition, self-awareness, development of culture, and development of language. Tool-making is notable, but not necessary - deliberate manipulation of the organism's environment is also a potential sign of sapience, but not necessarily a qualifier.

[He pauses here, and adds almost sheepishly:] Terran scientists are constantly discovering species that push the definition of sapience to new realms that were previously thought unlikely or impossible.

[Voice]

[mmmfilletofsoul]

[Robert, she is just going to give you this face.]

...so, you believe a creature possessing these qualities would therefore be considered a person?