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personsnearandfar.
Inthejargonofcategorytheory,[7]personsarenotthen
“individuals”inthesenseofbeingabsolutelydiscerniblebythere
beingatleast“onepermittedpropertythattheobjecthasandtheother
objectslack.”Rather,personsare“relationals”inthesenseofbeing,
inanencompassingsense,“objects”thatnonethelessdonot
absolutelydistinguishthemselvesfromotherobjectsbutdosoonly
relatively.Theydosorelationallythroughtransitive,irreflexive,
asymmetric,andextendablefoundationalrelations.[8]
Thatis,afterreflectionIdonotthinkthatsomeonecanbeaperson
properlyspeakingwithoutincorporatingone’sessential
connectednessbothtooneselfandtootherpersons;otherwise,one
remainsjustanindividualand/oramemberofagroup.
Thefirsttwochapters,whicharelargelyempirical,setupandthen
criticallyexploreacontrastbetweentwobasiccontemporary
perspectivesonhumanbeingsandpersons,anexclusivelynaturalistic
oneandanon-exclusivelynaturalisticone.Thenexttwochapters
lookmorecloselyatthesocialandlinguisticdimensionsofhuman
beingsandpersons.Thelasttwochapters,whicharelargelynon-
empirical,assemblesomeofthefundamentalontologicaland
metaphysicalremindersforwhatarearguablyanyphilosophically
tenablenotexclusivelynaturalisticconceptionsofpersons.Anenvoi
looksbrieflyatwhatstillseemstobemostatstakeonsuch
arelationalaccountofwhatandwhoandhowpersonsare.
Ifsomereadersweretofindseveralofthesereflectionscogentand
persuasive,thenperhapssomeoftheirthoughtfulandcollective
responsestosuchurgentglobalproblemstodayasvastlyincreasing
migrations,climatechanges,extinctions,pollutions,pandemics,
growingdangersofnuclearwarfare,andevermoregeneralized
violencemightverywellbecomemoreeffective.
Foroncepersons,institutions,andcommunities,weretotry
toradicallychangetheirmostbasicprioritiesfrommainlypreserving
individualandsocialprivileges,whetherthoseofthegoverning
orofthegoverned,tomainlyservingthecommunalandfundamental
