2 Moral Status Flashcards
What are the 6 key grounds for moral concern?
human autonomous sentience personhood potentiality patient
What was Aristotle’s understanding of humanity?
there is a natural hierarchy of living things because they can interact with their environment in a more complex way
What was THomas Aquinas’ understanding of humanity?
If you are rational, you are worhtwhile considering as an individual
anything that can’t form rational though is merely an instrument for those who are above him in the pecking order
What was Kantian Theory surrounding the autonomous nature of moral concern?
anything that doesn’t have free will cannot have a good will
therefore, it doesn’t have intrinsic value
therefore, we can’t be concerned about it directly from a moral standing
What is sentience?
the capacity to experience episodes of positively or negatively valenced awareness
What is the implication of sentience?
if a being is sentient then it has direct moral status
most animals are sentient
therefore, most animals have direct moral status
What were Rene Decartes views surrounding sentience?
Decartes preferred to to explain animal behaviour by offering the simplest possible explanation for them
decartes says this doesn’t apply to humans because they can surprise you
What is the argument from marginal cases?
Peter Singer
we define a human characteristic
If a member of any species has this, then that whole species should be treated with the same rights as a human
What is the sophisticated inegalitarian?
to a racist, their own race might be superior
the racist is wrong in their factual judgement
but if only this were tru, then become ‘intellectualists’ would be justified
What is the ‘normal’ definition of death?
cardio-pulmonary arrest is irreversible
What are the 2 exceptions to the normal definition of dath?
brain stem death
persistent vegetative states
(confounding minimally unconscious states)
What are the biological features of BSD?
heart continues to beat
cessation of respiration, temperature control, brain function, fluid balance
What are the biological features of a persistent vegetative state?
brain stem remains functional but mid-brain and cortex are non-functional
this is a biographical death
what is a minimally conscious state?
a condition of severely altered consciousness in which minimal but definite behavioural evidence of self or environmental awareness is demonstrated
