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orcognitiveskills...[including]intentionalityandself-consciousness
thatfulllanguagecapacitiesmaysupport,andtheabilitytoenterinto
suitablerelationswithotherpersons...
.”[12]Since,however,different
languageskillsdevelopindifferentwaysandtodifferentrhythmsand
degrees,bothinindividualsandinpopulations,weneedtoemphasize
theimportancehereofpersons’fullandnotjustpartiallanguage
skills.
Theideaofpersonhoodnaturallyinvolvestheideaofpersons.
Philosophicallyspeaking,personsseemtobeentities.[13]Sowhen
speakingaboutaperson,weofteninitiallyunderstanda“person”
asarathergeneralkindofentity,evenasanobject,althoughnot
necessarilyamaterialobject.[14]Andwhenspeakinglogically,wemay
takesuchanentityas,minimally,havingintrinsicbinaryconnections
betweenatleastoneelementfromitsdomainandonefromits
range.[15]
Moreover,inspeakingofsuchanintrinsicallyinterconnected
phenomenonasan“essentiallyrelationalentity,”wemayunderstand
apersonasnecessarilyhavingsomecharacteristicproperties.Thatis,
certainpropertiesofpersons,theirnecessaryproperties,are
tobeunderstood“independentlyofanywayswemaycategorize
them.”[16]Thenecessarypropertiesofapersonthusarejustthose
withoutwhichapersoncouldnotexist.Moreover,thesetofthese
necessarypropertiesisapartoftheprimaryelementsofaperson,
ofwhattraditionallyphilosophershavecalledthe“essence”
ofaperson.[17]
Now,ifsuchaconceptionofpersonhoodascomprisingpersons
understoodfundamentallyasessentiallyrelationalentitiesistomerit
credence,thisconceptionhastosquarewithanunderstandingofso-
called“centralphenomena”thatapersonexhibits.Thesecentral
phenomenaofpersonhoodandpersonsareoftensummarizedtoday
asrationality,language,agency,moralworth,andsociality.[18]Each
ofsuch“centralphenomena,”howeverrequirescarefulanalysisand
interpretation.
Moreover,besidessquaringwiththecentralphenomena
