PHIL 160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Sentience, Abortion-Rights Movements, Anti-Abortion Movements
Document Summary
Part iii: killing: adults, babies, fetuses and animals. Bad to kill something? (and how bad is it?) Inherently: innocent, non-threatening, no friends/family, hidden death, nothing gained. The standard positions- moral status suddenly comes after birth/conception: pro-choice, before birth: ok, after birth: bad! (about nha: normal human adult, pro-life, before conception: Moral status should come gradually, in degrees. Inheritance: uncle had baby, you kill baby right before he comes out-example. Three possible criteria for moral status (sumner) : life: anything that is alive has moral status. And discussion about it: too broad, not gradual, in degrees, sentience (ability to feel, right answer according to sumner, sentience is where the line is drawn to kill, rationality (ability to reason, too narrow. 2 proportional to the degree to which it"s sentient. Sumner: the degree to which it"s inherently bad to kill something is. Who should you save?-based on sumner"s account: 8 month fetus vs newborn baby, nha , cow , nha .
