A life phase is a named period within the lifespan of a human person. The ontology first distinguishes the prenatal phase (from conception to birth) and the postnatal phase (from birth to death). The prenatal phase divides further into the embryonic and fetal phase, the postnatal into childhood and adulthood. Each life phase can be assigned to a dimension of the basic form of actuality. The decisive point is: throughout the entire lifespan — in every life phase — personhood remains unchanged and inalienable.
Embryonic phase
The embryonic phase comprises the period from the zygote to about the eighth week of development. Already in this earliest life phase the person exists as a spiritual substance in the body. The embryonic phase is a subphase of the prenatal phase and thus falls within the first dimension of personhood — the not-yet-conscious being of the human person. That the person in this phase shows no person-behavior yet changes nothing about her full personhood, since this is grounded in the prote energeia (the act of being) and not in the deutera energeia (the activity).
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: prenatal phase, life phase
Adulthood
Adulthood is the period of being adult within the postnatal phase. In this life phase, the person has, as a rule, reached the full unfolding of her person-behavior: knowing, willing, free acting, and loving in the second and third dimension. Adulthood is disjoint with childhood. Even in adulthood there can be a regression into a state that resembles the first dimension — for instance in dementia — whereby personhood remains untouched by it.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: postnatal phase, life phase; disjoint with: childhood
Fetal phase
The fetal phase comprises the period from about the ninth week of development to birth. It follows the embryonic phase and forms, together with it, the prenatal phase. During the fetal phase the bodily development of the person continues — organogenesis, growth, and maturation — without the ontological status of the person changing. The person is just as wholly present in this life phase as in every other phase of the lifespan. The fetal phase, like the entire prenatal phase, falls under the first dimension of personhood.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: prenatal phase, life phase
Childhood
Childhood is the period of childhood within the postnatal phase. Into this life phase typically falls the awakening of consciousness — the gradual transition from the first to the second dimension of personhood. The child gradually actualizes its active potency for person-behavior: it begins to know, to will, and to experience itself as an “I.” Childhood is disjoint with adulthood. Even in earliest childhood, before consciousness has awakened, the child is a person in the full sense — personhood is grounded not in actual behavior but in the act of being.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: postnatal phase, life phase; disjoint with: adulthood
Lifespan
The lifespan is the period from conception to death of a human person. Throughout the entire lifespan the person is wholly present (endurantism), possesses inalienable ontological dignity and all essential characteristics as a fundamental endowment. Every human person has exactly one lifespan. The lifespan divides into various life phases — prenatal and postnatal phase — which for their part can be assigned to the three dimensions of the basic form of actuality. The beginning of the lifespan is marked by conception, its end by death.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: period; every human person has exactly one lifespan
Postnatal phase
The postnatal phase comprises the period from birth to death. It is disjoint with the prenatal phase and forms, together with it, the entire lifespan of the human person. Birth as the transition from the prenatal to the postnatal phase does not change the ontological status of the person — it is a change of place, not a change of being. The postnatal phase divides into childhood and adulthood. Into this phase typically falls the awakening of consciousness and thus the transition from the first to the second dimension of personhood.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: life phase; subordinate concepts: childhood, adulthood; disjoint with: prenatal phase
Prenatal phase
The prenatal phase comprises the period from conception to birth. It falls under the first dimension of personhood: the not-yet-conscious being of the human person. The prenatal phase divides into the embryonic phase (up to about the eighth week) and the fetal phase (from the ninth week to birth). Throughout the entire prenatal phase the person is wholly present as a spiritual substance in the body — not as a “becoming person,” but as a person whose person-behavior has not yet actualized. The prenatal phase is disjoint with the postnatal phase.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: life phase; subordinate concepts: embryonic phase, fetal phase; disjoint with: postnatal phase
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology.
Further sources:
- Conrad-Martius, Hedwig: Das Sein (1957). Munich: Kösel. (on the real-ontology of the development of life) (German)
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: period; subordinate concepts: prenatal phase, postnatal phase
See also: