Beyond Infanticide: How Psychological Accounts of Persons Can Justify Harming Infants

The New Bioethics : a Multidisciplinary Journal of Biotechnology and the Body
Daniel RodgerCalum Miller

Abstract

It is commonly argued that a serious right to life is grounded only in actual, relatively advanced psychological capacities a being has acquired. The moral permissibility of abortion is frequently argued for on these grounds. Increasingly it is being argued that such accounts also entail the permissibility of infanticide, with several proponents of these theories accepting this consequence. We show, however, that these accounts imply the permissibility of even more unpalatable acts than infanticide performed on infants: organ harvesting, live experimentation, sexual interference, and discriminatory killing. The stronger intuitions against the permissibility of these 'pre-personal acts' allow us to re-establish a comprehensive and persuasive reductio against psychological accounts of persons.

References

Jan 1, 1973·The Monist·Mary Anne Warren
Dec 6, 2003·Consciousness and Cognition·Philippe Rochat
Dec 19, 2008·Pediatric Research·Hugo Lagercrantz, Jean-Pierre Changeux
Oct 5, 2010·Consciousness and Cognition·Philippe Rochat, Dan Zahavi
Mar 1, 2012·Journal of Medical Ethics·Alberto Giubilini, Francesca Minerva
May 3, 2013·Journal of Medical Ethics·Jeff McMahan
Dec 3, 2014·The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery·Udo Schuklenk
Aug 13, 2015·The New England Journal of Medicine·R Alta Charo

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Citations

Oct 10, 2019·The New Bioethics : a Multidisciplinary Journal of Biotechnology and the Body·Bruce P Blackshaw
Nov 23, 2021·The New Bioethics : a Multidisciplinary Journal of Biotechnology and the Body·Bruce P Blackshaw

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