Editing Person (section)

==Personhood==
[[File:Paul Klee WI (In Memoriam) 1938.jpg|thumb|An abstract painting of a person by [[Paul Klee]]. The concept of a person can be very challenging to define.]]
{{main article|Personhood}}

{{quotation|The criteria for being a person... are designed to capture those attributes which are the subject of our most humane concern with ourselves and the source of what we regard as most important and most problematical in our lives.|Harry G. Frankfurt|}}
Personhood is the status of being a person. Defining personhood is a controversial topic in [[philosophy]] and [[law]], and is closely tied to legal and [[political]] concepts of [[citizenship]], [[equality before the law|equality]], and [[liberty]]. According to common worldwide general legal practice, only a [[natural person]] or [[legal personality]] has [[rights]], protections, [[Privilege (law)|privileges]], responsibilities, and [[legal liability]].
Personhood continues to be a topic of international debate, and has been questioned during the abolition of [[slavery]] and the fight for [[women's rights]], in debates about [[abortion]], [[fetal rights]], and in [[animal rights]] advocacy.<ref>For a discussion of non-human personhood, see [[Mary Midgley|Midgley, Mary]]. [http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/midgley01.htm "Persons and non-persons"], in Peter Singer (ed.) ''In Defense of Animals''. Basil Blackwell, 1985, pp. 52–62.</ref><ref name="U.S. Judge Rules Pablo Escobar's 'Cocaine Hippos' Should Have Legal Rights">{{cite news |date=October 25, 2021 |title=U.S. Judge Rules Pablo Escobar's 'Cocaine Hippos' Should Have Legal Rights |publisher=Time (magazine) |url=https://time.com/6110343/pablo-escobar-cocaine-hippos-people/ |access-date=2021-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026003345/https://time.com/6110343/pablo-escobar-cocaine-hippos-people/ |archive-date=26 Oct 2021}}</ref>

Various debates have focused on questions about the personhood of different classes of entities. Historically, the personhood of women, and slaves has been a catalyst of social upheaval. In most societies today, postnatal humans are defined as persons. Likewise, certain legal entities such as [[corporations]], [[sovereign states]] and other [[Polity|polities]], or [[estate (law)|estates]] in [[probate]] are legally defined as persons.<ref>For corporations, see [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html "Justices, 5–4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit"], ''The New York Times'', January 21, 2010.</ref>  However, some people believe that other groups should be included; depending on the theory, the category of "person" may be taken to include or not pre-natal humans or such [[Non human|non-human]] entities as [[animals]], [[artificial intelligences]], or [[extraterrestrial life]].