What is a person? Apparently, having a mind is neither necessary nor sufficient. New-borns don’t have minds yet, but they are entitled to the same rights of protection under the law as other people. Higher primates also appear to have minds (see ‘Monkeys with Money’), but don’t get the same rights as human babies.
According to Peter Strawson, ('Individuals' 1956), 'person' is a logical category that can't be reduced to either purely physical or purely mental properties; rather, any explanation of the term 'person' will necessarily need to make use of both physical and mental properties.
Hardly ground-breaking stuff to Freddie B chucking down a fat-laden full-English brekki while musing on the meaning of life, you might think. However, its correlate is that at least some mental properties are necessarily bound to having a body. The good news is we can all stop fearing those ghosts in the graveyard - the rule is: no body, no mind.
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