Spaemann provides substantive analysis about what persons are by distinguishing what persons do from what nonpersons do. But this is no mere case of positing-in good Sartrean fashion-that human existence precedes essence. No, this is a sophisticated investigation into what makes persons unique among all other existing entities through a focus on those activities, primarily of the mind, that enable one to understand human beings as persons. * Chris Emerick, PNEUMA * Persons is a significant contribution to contemporary thinking and, as such, needs to be read. * Sue Patterson, The Journal of Theological Studies * Until recently relatively unknown outside Germany, the work of the Christian moral philosopher Robert Spaemann is now commanding the attention of English readers; this elegant translation of his work on personhood will do much to further his reputation as a thinker of uncommon breadth and penetration . . . It is a work of a remarkably poised and fully realized intelligence, full of passages of breathtaking perception, all the more striking for their calm modest simplicity. * John Webster, The Expository Times * A prolific German Catholic intellectual historian, ethicist, political theorist, and public intellectual. * Arthur Madigan, The Journal of Religious Ethics Vol. 38, No. 2 (June 2010) *