Humanities

Personhood

The state or condition of being a human individual accorded moral and/or legal rights. Criteria to be used to determine this status are subject to debate, and range from the requirement of simply being a human organism to such requirements as that the individual be self-aware and capable of rational thought and moral agency.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

The state or condition of being a human individual accorded moral and/or legal rights. Criteria to be used to determine this status are subject to debate, and range from the requirement of simply being a human organism to such requirements as that the individual be self-aware and capable of rational thought and moral agency.

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Related Concepts

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MeSH Record

See Also

MeSH Record

Indexing Annotation

do not confuse with INDIVIDUALITY

MeSH Record

History Note

2002; use INDIVIDUALITY 1995-2001

MeSH Record

Previous Indexing

  • Individuality (1974-2001)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Numbers

  1. K01w.752w.566w.479w.660w
  2. N05.350w.917w

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Personhood. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D028723. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D028723
  2. Personhood. In: Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personhood
  3. Personhood. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7170675