[6] Moral Personhood

• Morally evaluable acts - those acts that can be judged as morally right or wrong.
• Some acts are not morally evaluable because the subject (doer) of the act (doer) is not a moral person, or the object of the act is not a moral person, or both are not moral persons.
• For an act to be morally evaluable, the subject and object of the act must be a moral person
• Moral person - one who is aware of what is right/wrong
• Moral agent - sources of moral actions
• Moral patient - receivers of moral actions
• Moral agent

  • One that possesses moral duties
  • The ability to rationalize
• Moral agent - Gives us moral accountability (whether a praise or blame)
• Moral patient

  • One that possesses moral rights and deserves moral consideration
• rights - something someone deserves; given to a person
• What makes someone an object of moral concern and gives someone a moral standing?

  Rights
• Genetic Theory of Personhood - by John Noonan
• John Noonan (Genetic Theory of Personhood) - Believes that, despite the lack if rationality and ability to feel pain, a human being is a moral person as long as they possess human DNA
• Genetic Theory of Personhood - "If you are not human, you do not have human rights".
• Anthropocentrism - centers on human ethics. (e.g. sacrificing animals for humans)
• Rational Theory - by Immanuel Kant
• Rational Theory

  • Believes that a moral person has the capacity for rationality
• Rational Theory however creates a narrow mindset

  • This suggests that infants or children who are not rationally capable do not have moral rights
• Cognitive Theory - by Mary Anne Warren
• Cognitive Theory - Believes that an entity is a moral patient has: Consciousness, Reasoning, Self-motivated activity, Communication, Self concept
• Cognitive Theory

  • Similar to rational theory, this creates a narrow mindset
  • However, it can be applicable to moral agents instead
• Sentient Theory - by Peter Singer
• Sentient Theory - Believes that humans are not the only entities with rights
• As long as a person has the capacity to suffer, they have moral rights

  Sentient Theory
• Believes that speciesism is similar to acts of discrimination (e.g., racism, sexism)

  Sentient Theory
• Jainism

  • A moral patient possesses life or is alive
  • Respects the concept of life
  • We are a community of life forms
  • If one suffers, everyone in the community is affected
• it is our environment that should be given value

  Ecocentrism/Biocentrism
• Does not say that someone has a right because others will be affected, but says that a being has rights of their own regardless of others

  Life Theory
• Recognizes the right of nature

  Thomas Berry
• Right to exist, right to habitat, right to evolve and flourish

  Life Theory
• One has rights because they are being cared for - because they are valued by others

  Relational Theory
• Relational Theory

  • Issue: if someone is not valued or cared for, they will not have rights despite other factors
• Gradient Theory by?

  Anne Finch Conway
• Personhood comes in degrees


  Gradient Theory
• One entity can be more of a person, or less of a person

  Gradient Theory
• We cannot set a constant criterion when judging whether something or someone is a person

  Gradient Theory