PHIL 27000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Mary Wollstonecraft, Sentience
2 Feb 2017
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A vindication of the rights of brutes. Mary wollstonecraft: all men have equal rights because all men have reason, if women have reason, then women have equal rights as men, women have reason, therefore , women have equal rights as men. Thomas taylor: if mary"s reasoning is sound, then animals would have equal rights as humans, animals do not have equal rights as humans, therefore, mary"s reasoning is unsound. The principle of the equality of human beings is not a description of an alleged actual equality among humans: it is a prescription of how we should treat human beings. Instead of starting with the assumption human beings deserve moral consideration" and going on the search some common denominator" that makes us humans. Begin with the question what does it mean to deserve moral consideration?" and what does it take to deserve moral consideration?". Singer: to have a welfare, i. e. to have interests.
