[omnivore]

"...there is a great deal of agreement on what constitutes personhood. These include attributes such as rationality, memory, ability to self-reflect, intelligence, and a concept of self."

Actually this definition of what "constitutes personhood" seems a lot like what "Kill Terry Schiavo" people claimed, that something that appears to be a living person needs this big laundry list (made up by them) of "abilities" in order to count as a "real person."

[KrisKrinkle]

True.

And newborns don’t have those attributes as far as I know, nor do some older folks. Agreement with that list of attributes as definitive could be dangerous for them (as well as for some of the people I work with and some that can be found on the web).

Even if you aren’t a person without those attributes, you are still be a human being.