MouseBean
MouseBean t1_j5q05x0 wrote
Reply to comment by bac5665 in On Whether “Personhood” is a Normative or Descriptive Concept by ADefiniteDescription
>Because those cognitive abilities are what determine ethical duties owed to that elephant...It must be emotional and intellectual capacity that creates moral weight.
No they don't. Ethics has nothing to do with cognitive ability. Moral value is a property of systems, not individuals, and the ethical significance of individuals comes from their role in maintaining this systemic value. Ethical significance has to do with relationships, not experiences. And all living things have these relationships, every living thing has ancestors, every living thing reproduces, every living thing eats, and every living thing is eaten.
Humans or other animals are not any more significant in this regard than other organisms.
There are plenty of other alternatives to suffering-based morality that are not divine command theory.
MouseBean t1_j5pxym8 wrote
Reply to comment by Ill_Department_2055 in On Whether “Personhood” is a Normative or Descriptive Concept by ADefiniteDescription
Humans aren't specially significant.
MouseBean t1_j5rby5r wrote
Reply to comment by Ill_Department_2055 in On Whether “Personhood” is a Normative or Descriptive Concept by ADefiniteDescription
Yes, the definition should be expansive enough to include rivers and mountains and individual viruses and whole herds of deer.