Single Idea 23747

[catalogued under 16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 7. Self and Body / a. Self needs body]

Full Idea

There is something sacred in every man, but it is not his person. Nor yet is it the human personality. It is this man; no more and no less. …It is he. The whole of him. The arms, they eyes, the thoughts, everything.

Gist of Idea

What is sacred is not a person, but the whole physical human being

Source

Simone Weil (Human Personality [1943], p,70)

Book Reference

Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.70


A Reaction

I take her to be referring to exactly the concept of a 'person' which Locke introduced. It is important to remember that his concept is mainly forensic - as a concept of ownership and contracts. A person is an abstraction. Even a corpse is a human.