Description
Mary Anne Warren explores a theoretical question which lies at the heart of practical ethics: what are the criteria for having moral status? In other words, what are the criteria for being an entity towards which people have moral obligations? Some philosophers maintain that there is one intrinsic property--for instance, life, sentience, humanity, or moral agency. Others believe that relational properties, such as belonging to a human community, are more important. In Part I of the book, Warren argues that no single property can serve as the sole criterion for moral status; instead, life, sentience, moral agency, and social and biotic relationships are all relevant, each in a different way. She presents seven basic principles, each focusing on a property that can, in combination with others, legitimately affect an agent's moral obligations towards entities of a given type. In Part II, these principles are applied in an examination of three controversial ethical issues: voluntary euthanasia, abortion, and the moral status of animals.
Reviews
This book is well written, synoptic in its coverage of existing theories of moral status, and most useful for a beginning Contemporary Moral Problems or Medical Ethics class. * Ethics *
Admirably accessible ... bound to be met with gratitude on the part of an interested general audience, undergraduates, and anyone attempting to put together a course on the subject ... Warren's critical discussions are well informed and sensible. Her survey of the literature is fairly broad and brings to bear a variety of outlooks on the main views under discussion. * Social Theory and Practice *
Mary Anne Warren's enterprise, to delineate "obligations to persons and other living things" is potentially fruitful, and of considerable importance. * Mary Warnock, Times Higher Education Supplement *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198236689
Author Mary Anne Warren
Format Hardback
Page Count 274
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 441g
Dimensions(mm) 225mm * 146mm * 21mm
Reviews
This book is well written, synoptic in its coverage of existing theories of moral status, and most useful for a beginning Contemporary Moral Problems or Medical Ethics class. * Ethics *
Admirably accessible ... bound to be met with gratitude on the part of an interested general audience, undergraduates, and anyone attempting to put together a course on the subject ... Warren's critical discussions are well informed and sensible. Her survey of the literature is fairly broad and brings to bear a variety of outlooks on the main views under discussion. * Social Theory and Practice *
Mary Anne Warren's enterprise, to delineate "obligations to persons and other living things" is potentially fruitful, and of considerable importance. * Mary Warnock, Times Higher Education Supplement *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198236689
Author Mary Anne Warren
Format Hardback
Page Count 274
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 441g
Dimensions(mm) 225mm * 146mm * 21mm
