Moral Status, Populations, Animals, etc (Chapter 3)

What is moral status?

Having moral importance such that moral agents have obligations towards you based on your interests.

What are two other terms for moral status?

Moral standing and moral considerability.

What does moral status mean in the strong sense?

Having rights or the functional equivalent of rights.

What is a direct moral object?

A being that counts in its own right and has basic interests.

What is an indirect moral object?

Something we have duties regarding, but not duties owed directly to it.

Why is a person a direct moral object but a computer is not?

Persons have interests and can be morally wronged; computers do not.

What is the central question of moral status?

Which beings deserve moral protection and rights, and to what degree?

What are the five theories of moral status?

Human properties, cognitive properties, moral agency, sentience, and relationships.

(Theory 1) What gives moral status under the human-properties theory?

Distinctively human properties, such as being a member of Homo sapiens.

What is a strength of the human-properties theory?

It protects all humans, including infants, disabled people, and cognitively impaired people.

What is the major problem with the human-properties theory?

Species membership alone cannot explain why humans have status or why nonhumans could not.

Why do chimeras challenge the human-properties theory?

Human-animal chimeras may have human-like cognitive or moral capacities despite not being fully human.

What is a transgenic animal?

An animal that possesses and expresses genes from another species.

What is the main conclusion about Theory 1?

Human properties are sufficient for moral status but are not necessary for it.

(Theory 2) What gives moral status under the cognitive-properties theory?

Cognitive abilities such as self-awareness, reasoning, communication, and purposeful action.

What is self-consciousness?

Awareness of oneself as existing over time, including a past and future.

What cognitive abilities may be relevant to moral status?

Self-consciousness, purposeful action, reasoning, beliefs, communication, and rationality.

What is a major problem with the cognitive-properties theory?

It can exclude infants and cognitively impaired humans from high moral status.

What is the argument from marginal cases?

If cognitive traits determine status, some humans and animals may have similar capacities and deserve similar treatment.

How could animals challenge the cognitive-properties theory?

Some animals show self-awareness, planning, learning, communication, and other cognitive abilities.

What is the main conclusion about Theory 2?

Cognitive abilities are sufficient for moral status but not necessary.

Theory 3: What gives moral status under the moral-agency theory?

The capacity to make moral judgments and have motives that can be morally evaluated.

What are the two conditions of moral agency?

Ability to judge actions as right/wrong and ability to have morally judgeable motives.

Does a moral agent have to act morally?

No. Someone can make immoral judgments or have immoral motives and still be a moral agent.

Why is moral agency a sufficient condition for moral status?

Moral agents can be blamed, praised, condemned, or held responsible for their actions.

Why is moral agency NOT a necessary condition?

Infants, severely impaired humans, and many animals lack moral agency but still deserve protection.

What is the main conclusion about Theory 3?

Moral agency is sufficient for moral status but not necessary.

Theory 4: What gives moral status under sentience theory?

The capacity to experience sensations, feelings, pleasure, pain, or suffering.

What is sentience?

The capacity for conscious experiences that can be agreeable or disagreeable.

Why does sentience matter morally?

Sentient beings can suffer and have welfare interests, so harming them can wrong them.

What is the key idea behind sentience theory?

What matters morally is the capacity to suffer, not species, intelligence, or moral agency.

What famous question is associated with Bentham's sentience argument?

The key issue is whether a being can suffer, rather than whether it can reason or talk.

What is a major strength of sentience theory?

It protects vulnerable humans and many nonhuman animals capable of suffering.

What is a major problem with making sentience necessary for moral status?

It could exclude nonsentient humans, such as early fetuses or permanently unconscious people.

What is the main conclusion about Theory 4?

Sentience is sufficient for some moral status but not necessary for all moral status.

Theory 5: What gives moral status under relationship theory?

Relationships can create roles, obligations, and specific moral entitlements.

What is an example of a relationship creating obligations?

A physician-patient relationship creates a physician's obligation to care for the patient.

How can relationships affect laboratory animals' status?

Human caretaking creates obligations to protect animals from unnecessary pain and suffering.

What is the major problem with relationship theory?

Relationships alone cannot explain all moral status because beings can have status without relationships.

What is the main conclusion about Theory 5?

Relationships can create or change specific rights and obligations but cannot fully explain moral status.

Why is no single theory a complete account of moral status?

Each focuses too narrowly on one factor and excludes beings protected by other approaches.

What is a multicriterial account of moral status?

An approach combining the strongest criteria from multiple theories.

What are the five criteria that can contribute to moral status?

Human properties, cognition, moral agency, sentience, and relationships.

What are degrees of moral status?

The idea that beings can have different levels of moral protections and rights.

Why might moral status come in degrees?

Relevant traits like cognition, sentience, autonomy, and moral agency can exist at different levels.

What does a lower level of moral status NOT mean?

It does not mean a person is worthless or undeserving of protection.

How can vulnerable people have lower status in some areas yet greater protections?

They may lack decision-making rights but receive special protections, care, or education.

What is specification in moral status?

Narrowing broad moral criteria into more practical guidelines for specific situations.

What are the three possible policies for vulnerable populations in research?

Full prohibition, full permissibility, or partial permissibility under specific conditions.

Why must the term 'vulnerable' be used cautiously?

It can stereotype people or lead to unnecessary overprotection.

What is moral sympathy?

The ability to understand others' experiences and develop concern for their welfare.

What does Hume recommend to overcome limited sympathy?

Use calm, impartial judgment and expand sympathy beyond close friends and family.