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Moral Circle Expansion
Moral circle expansion is the process of increasing the number and type of entities given moral consideration over time and potentially into the future. The general idea of moral inclusion was discussed by ancient philosophers and since the 19th century has inspired social movements related to human rights and animal rights. Especially in relation to animal rights, the philosopher Peter Singer has written about the subject since the 1970s, and since 2017 so has the think tank Sentience Institute, part of the 21st-century effective altruism movement. There is significant debate on whether humanity actually has an expanding moral circle, considering topics such as the lack of a uniform border of growing moral consideration and the disconnect between people's moral attitudes and their behavior. Research into the phenomenon is ongoing. History The moral circle was discussed as early as the 2nd century by Stoic philosopher Hierocles, who described in ''On Appropriate Acts'' the conce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable,The United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner of Human RightsWhat are human rights? Retrieved 14 August 2014 fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being" and which are "inherent in all human beings",Burns H. Weston, 20 March 2014, Encyclopædia Britannicahuman rights Retrieved 14 August 2014. regardless of their age, ethnic origin, location, language, religion, ethnicity, or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They are reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Moral Animal
''The Moral Animal'' is a 1994 book by journalist Robert Wright, in which the author explores many aspects of everyday life through evolutionary biology. Summary Wright explores many aspects of everyday life through evolutionary biology. He provides Darwinian explanations for human behavior and psychology, social dynamics and structures, as well as people's relationships with lovers, friends, and family. Wright borrows extensively from Charles Darwin's better-known publications, including ''On the Origin of Species'' (1859), but also from his chronicles and personal writings, illustrating behavioral principles with Darwin's own biographical examples. Reception ''The Moral Animal'' was a national bestseller and has been published in 12 languages; ''The New York Times Book Review'' chose it as one of its eleven Best Books of 1994. The linguist Steven Pinker praised ''The Moral Animal'' as a "fiercely intelligent, beautifully written and engrossingly original book" but "found hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longtermism
Longtermism is an ethical stance which gives priority to improving the long-term future. It is an important concept in effective altruism and serves as a primary motivation for efforts that claim to reduce existential risks to humanity. Sigal Samuel from '' Vox'' summarizes the key argument for longtermism as follows: " future people matter morally just as much as people alive today;... there may well be more people alive in the future than there are in the present or have been in the past; and... we can positively affect future peoples' lives." These three ideas taken together suggest, to those advocating longtermism, that it is the responsibility of those living now to ensure that future generations get to survive and flourish. Definition Philosopher William MacAskill defines ''longtermism'' in his book '' What We Owe the Future'' as "the view that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time". He distinguishes it from ''strong longtermism' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robot Rights
The ethics of artificial intelligence is the branch of the ethics of technology specific to artificially intelligent systems. It is sometimes divided into a concern with the moral behavior of ''humans'' as they design, make, use and treat artificially intelligent systems, and a concern with the behavior of ''machines,'' in machine ethics. It also includes the issue of a possible singularity due to superintelligent AI. Ethics fields' approaches Robot ethics The term "robot ethics" (sometimes "roboethics") refers to the morality of how humans design, construct, use and treat robots. Robot ethics intersect with the ethics of AI. Robots are physical machines whereas AI can be only software. Not all robots function through AI systems and not all AI systems are robots. Robot ethics considers how machines may be used to harm or benefit humans, their impact on individual autonomy, and their effects on social justice. Machine ethics Machine ethics (or machine morality) is the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant Rights
Plant rights are rights to which plants may be entitled. Such issues are often raised in connection with discussions about human rights, animal rights, biocentrism, or sentiocentrism. Philosophy Samuel Butler's ''Erewhon'' contains a chapter, "The Views of an Erewhonian Philosopher Concerning the Rights of Vegetables". On the question of whether animal rights can be extended to plants, animal rights philosopher Tom Regan argues that animals acquire rights due to being aware, what he calls "subjects-of-a-life". He argues that this does not apply to plants, and that even if plants did have rights, abstaining from eating meat would still be moral due to the use of plants to rear animals. According to philosopher Michael Marder, the idea that plants should have rights derives from "plant subjectivity", which is distinct from human personhood. Paul W. Taylor holds that all life has inherent worth and argues for respect for plants, but does not assign them rights. Christopher D. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rights Of Nature
Rights of nature or Earth rights is a legal and jurisprudential theory that describes inherent rights as associated with ecosystems and species, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights. The rights of nature concept challenges twentieth-century laws as generally grounded in a flawed frame of nature as "resource" to be owned, used, and degraded. Proponents argue that laws grounded in rights of nature direct humanity to act appropriately and in a way consistent with modern, system-based science, which demonstrates that humans and the natural world are fundamentally interconnected. This school of thought is underpinned by two basic lines of reasoning. First, since the recognition of human rights is based in part on the philosophical belief that those rights emanate from humanity's own existence, logically, so too do inherent rights of the natural world arise from the natural world's own existence. A second and more pragmatic argument asserts that the survival of humans de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sentiocentrism
Sentiocentrism, sentio-centrism, or sentientism is an ethical view that places sentient individuals (i.e., basically conscious beings) at the center of moral concern. Both humans and other sentient individuals have rights and/or interests that must be considered. Sentiocentrists consider discrimination between sentient beings of different species to be speciesism, an arbitrary discrimination. Coherent sentiocentrist belief respects all sentient beings. Many self-described humanists see themselves as "sentientists" where the term ''humanism'' contrasts with ''theism'' and does not describe the sole focus of humanist concerns. Sentiocentrism stands in opposition to the philosophy of anthropocentrism. History The 18th-century utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham was among the first to argue for sentiocentrism. He maintained that any individual who is capable of subjective experience should be considered a moral subject. Members of species who are able to experience pleasur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-speciesism
Speciesism () is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions within the relevant literature. A common element of most definitions is that speciesism involves treating members of one species as morally more important than members of other species in the context of their similar interests. Some sources specifically define speciesism as discrimination or unjustified treatment based on an individual's species membership,Horta, O., 2010. ''What is speciesism?''. Journal of agricultural and environmental ethics, 23(3), pp.243-266, p.247 " eciesism is the unjustified disadvantageous consideration or treatment of those who are not classified as belonging to one or more particular species" while other sources define it as differential treatment without regard to whether the treatment is justified or not. Richard Ryder, who coined the term, defined it as "a prejudice or attitude of bias in favour of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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