Peko...! [Voice heavy with both shock and indignation, Kanaya addresses Peko as she does mentally - with a relatively Western nonchalance instead of flagrantly calculated formality. She attempts to remedy her mistake and does very poorly phonetically:] Yama-san...
[That somebody's personhood can be bound by forces beyond independent choice is merely an unfortunate aspect of reality. Verbally breaking these bonds is itself a cruel act of a very high order. In the case of the hitman, any attempt at cultural sensitivity meets the paradox of these inextricably intertwined considerations.]
I don't understand! To be a tool - under some code of conduct so deeply ingrained command translates directly into action - how is that state mutually exclusive with personhood? [Her volume shouldn't have gotten so high - but, as Peko's logic already went for entering her morbid extraterrestrial dimension, most of the others who have any energy are already far away. She tries to come back down to a lower, cooler, logical place. Her brow furrows as she's not sure she can.]
I know that term "person" can become so vague as to be useless - especially when making arbitrary comparisons of robots, aliens, demons, or clones - but I can't imagine a single sense in which it doesn't apply to you. Are people evolved or designed for certain complex actions? Does sentience or elaborate emotional experience count the most? Is "sapience" or whatever bestows intelligent thought the order of the day? You clearly have your own body and feelings and problems! If Felicia Marlow is a person, why not you? No definition of person that excludes you makes sense, unless an explanation is tacked on at the end are an exception defying all other logic. "People are people unless they aren't, because we attached to them this particular arbitrary label" - it's a complete semantic dead end.
Is it because being a tool is too much for a person to have to bear? [As soon as she asks the question Kanaya is struck by the potential cruelty of this thought - but it is what she wants to know, and she continues to look at Peko for answers.]
no subject
[That somebody's personhood can be bound by forces beyond independent choice is merely an unfortunate aspect of reality. Verbally breaking these bonds is itself a cruel act of a very high order. In the case of the hitman, any attempt at cultural sensitivity meets the paradox of these inextricably intertwined considerations.]
I don't understand! To be a tool - under some code of conduct so deeply ingrained command translates directly into action - how is that state mutually exclusive with personhood? [Her volume shouldn't have gotten so high - but, as Peko's logic already went for entering her morbid extraterrestrial dimension, most of the others who have any energy are already far away. She tries to come back down to a lower, cooler, logical place. Her brow furrows as she's not sure she can.]
I know that term "person" can become so vague as to be useless - especially when making arbitrary comparisons of robots, aliens, demons, or clones - but I can't imagine a single sense in which it doesn't apply to you. Are people evolved or designed for certain complex actions? Does sentience or elaborate emotional experience count the most? Is "sapience" or whatever bestows intelligent thought the order of the day? You clearly have your own body and feelings and problems! If Felicia Marlow is a person, why not you? No definition of person that excludes you makes sense, unless an explanation is tacked on at the end are an exception defying all other logic. "People are people unless they aren't, because we attached to them this particular arbitrary label" - it's a complete semantic dead end.
Is it because being a tool is too much for a person to have to bear? [As soon as she asks the question Kanaya is struck by the potential cruelty of this thought - but it is what she wants to know, and she continues to look at Peko for answers.]