Legal Definition of Human

What is legally considered a human being?

 

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From Wikipedia. umans (Homo sapiens) are bipedal primates of the superfamily Hominoidea, together with the other apes—chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons. They are the dominant sentient species on planet Earth and define themselves in biological, social, and spiritual terms. The scientific name for humans, Homo sapiens, comes from the Latin for "wise man."

Humans have an erect body carriage that frees their upper limbs for manipulating objects and using tools. The human brain is capable of abstract thought, reason, speech, language, and introspection. Bipedal locomotion appears to have evolved before the development of a large brain. The origins of bipedal locomotion and of its role in the evolution of the human brain are topics of ongoing research.

The human mind has several distinct attributes. It is responsible for complex behavior, especially language. Curiosity and observation have led to a variety of explanations for consciousness and the relation between mind and body. Psychology attempts to study behavior from a scientific point of view. Religious perspectives emphasize a soul, qi or atman as the essence of being, and are often characterized by the belief in and worship of God, gods or spirits. Philosophy, especially philosophy of mind, attempts to fathom the depths of each of these perspectives. Art, music and literature often express these concepts and feelings.

Like all primates, humans are inherently social. They create complex social structures composed of co-operating and competing groups. These range from nations and states down to families, and from the community to the self. Seeking to understand and manipulate the world around them has led to the development of technology and science. Artifacts, beliefs, myths, rituals, values, and social norms have each played a role in forming humanity's culture.

 

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Why do U ask ?

R U not sure about yourself ?

BTW Genetically U can b tested for.

 

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Ricky, is that a LEGAL definition, or just a description?

 

It stems from a debate I was having with someone. They are adament that if someones DNA was edited at any point from pre-conception to birth, than the person should not be considered human.

 

i have done a google search on the phrase 'legal definition of human being'
and i can't find an answer
the only thing that you can do fafnir is to legaly define human as it pertains to the various regions of the world
what is legaly human in the u.s.a. is not human elsewhere

it seems to me that if there was a legal definition then you would find it at the u.n. but even they do not have one

 

Are you reading my mind again leopold? Even down to the UN issue?

 

this argument will not fly
for how does one know if dna has not been 'edited' by cosmic rays, or x-rays for that matter, while in the womb?

 

Through direct human intervention. Your use of quotes around edited shows that you understood the nature of my statement, and the nature of your own.

 

the biggest problem i see with this issue is how can you legaly define human and still take into consideration evolution

as soon as you put a legal definition on what is human on the genetic scale you immediatly rule out evolution.
that is probably why there is no legal definition and probably never will be

 

As already said there is no legal definition of a human, and none is needed or required,
but there are physical and juridical (or artificial) persons (like a company),
also public (mainly state owned) and private persons.

A person consists of the ability to have rights and duties; and of the ability to actually take action in using those rights and performing duties.

The first is for all persons that have been born (and in the cases of inheritance from a deceased person fetuses also have the ability to have rights).
The second is not for mentally ill persons, children, etc (dependant on national laws of each country)

And know that in law nothing is set in stone. Definitions change and adjust to new situations as time goes. The thought that in some future human rights would stop function solely because of the fact that humans would have evolved into another species is lunatic.
There's a whole subscience category called "interpretation of law".

p.s. I'm a law student.

 

Fafnir:

Can you paraphrase or elaborate a little on your opponent's position? My understanding is that his position makes absolutely no sense. Does he make any decent or legitimate points? I can't understand how he could come up with any, with a premise like that. It makes absolutely no sense. Why would the variations of a person's DNA render him/her not a person?

You should point out to your friend that no person, nor living thing's DNA stays the same through its life. In fact, that's why most organisms age. The telomere (non-informative junk DNA) at the ends of the chromosomes thin out and eventually result in the later generations of the concerned cells to start cutting out meaningful chunks of data during replication (which in normal circumstances would be telomere, which is its presumed function), resulting in all kinds of dystrophy, like improper cell funtioning, cancer and, well, you get the point.

 

Also is there a certain IQ a human isn't considered a human intellectually? What if a dog had an IQ of a really mentally retarded human or one who is mentally handicapped by other medical disorders, should society consider giving that dog the rights of humans? Myself, I believe if we're born human, we're legally humans. I guess the details are for the people and/or court to decide should the situation arise. And I also believe in respecting other living creatures, not just humans, so any animal to me has a right to be respected as one of God's creatures. It may seem off topic but human or not, or human which is questionable, should be treated with respect and given a right to a healthy life.

 

Human is anything that has human DNA in all cells of its body, meanining cytosines...adenines...thymines...all of em...in right position as exons...actually with a function. A human DNA is unlike any other species DNA and can vary only by 0.01% or so.

 

Someone of the 'Homo sapiens' species.

 

Bt what if I could pass on my genes from my X chromosomes without worry of infelteration from the womans X chromosome ?

 

Sorry, that's not how genes work.

 

Then i guess I am a new Specie, thanks