
Contents
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1. The Concept of a Person 1. The Concept of a Person
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1.1 Basic Moral Principles and the Importance of the Concept of a Person 1.1 Basic Moral Principles and the Importance of the Concept of a Person
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1.2 Defining the Concept of a Person: Overview 1.2 Defining the Concept of a Person: Overview
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1.3 Persons as Continuing Subjects of Consciousness 1.3 Persons as Continuing Subjects of Consciousness
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1.4 Summing Up 1.4 Summing Up
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2. Arguments against the Possession by Nonhuman Animals of a Right to Continued Existence 2. Arguments against the Possession by Nonhuman Animals of a Right to Continued Existence
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2.1 Animal Rights and Contractarian Approaches to Morality 2.1 Animal Rights and Contractarian Approaches to Morality
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2.2 Moral Agency and Rights 2.2 Moral Agency and Rights
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2.3 Nonhuman Animals and the Absence of Beliefs and Desires 2.3 Nonhuman Animals and the Absence of Beliefs and Desires
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2.3.1 R. G. Frey's Argument 2.3.1 R. G. Frey's Argument
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2.3.2 Thought and Conscious Beliefs and Desires 2.3.2 Thought and Conscious Beliefs and Desires
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2.4 Self-consciousness and the Right to Life 2.4 Self-consciousness and the Right to Life
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3. Arguments for the Possession of a Right to Continued Existence by Nonhuman Animals 3. Arguments for the Possession of a Right to Continued Existence by Nonhuman Animals
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3.1 The Arguments from Consciousness and from Sentience 3.1 The Arguments from Consciousness and from Sentience
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3.2 Regan's Argument: The Concept of the Subject-of-a-Life 3.2 Regan's Argument: The Concept of the Subject-of-a-Life
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3.3 Continuing Selves, Psychological Connectivity, and Imagistic Thinking 3.3 Continuing Selves, Psychological Connectivity, and Imagistic Thinking
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4. Summing Up 4. Summing Up
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Acknowledgements Acknowledgements
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Notes Notes
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Suggested Reading Suggested Reading
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34 What's Ethics Got to Do with it? The Roles of Government Regulation in Research-Animal Protection
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12 Are Nonhuman Animals Persons?
Get accessMichael Tooley is Distinguished College Professor in Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His publications include Causation: A Realist Approach (Oxford University Press, 1987); Time, Tense, and Causation (Oxford University Press, 1997); ‘Causation: Reductionism Versus Realism’ in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 50, Supplement (1990); ‘The Nature of Causation: A Singularist Account’ in D. Copp (ed.), Canadian Philosophers: Celebrating Twenty Years of the Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary 16 (1990); and ‘Causation and Supervenience’ in M. Loux and D. Zimmerman (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2003).
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Published:01 May 2012
Cite
Abstract
This article considers the concept of persons as the central issue in moral status debates. It finds questions about whether members of one or more nonhuman species of animals are persons among the most difficult philosophical questions we face today. It locates the difficulty in two sources: how the concept of a person should be analyzed, especially the properties that give an entity a right to continued existence; and how to determine which psychological capacities and which forms of mental life adult members of nonhuman species have. It argues that the fact that something is a continuing subject of experiences and has mental states that are psychologically connected over time is crucial to creatures having moral status and having a right to continued existence.
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