Abstract

Within the body of Star Trek television series and movies, the concept of personhood stands out in one particular episode that may just be the best episode ever. Its title, “The Measure of a Man”, evokes the famous saying by Greek pre‐Socratic philosopher Protagoras, who claimed, “Man is the measure of all things”. The moral personhood of both Pinocchio and Data really comes from within rather than because of a legal decision: they both learn to be brave, truthful and unselfish, and with conscience as their guide, a moral measure of a human. Immanuel Kant suggests that a truly moral action is one based on a principle that one can frame as a universal moral principle for everyone to follow, every truly moral action implies a duty. Kant anticipated Data's situation, arguing that any rational being should be treated as an end in himself or herself.