The moral community and moral consideration : a pragmatic approach

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this thesis is to argue for a new metric for determining the moral status ofanother being. Determining this status is of foundational importance in a number of legal,political, and ethical concerns, including but not limited to animal rights, the treatment ofcriminals, and the treatment of the psychologically afflicted. This metric will be based uponone's capacity to morally consider others. In other words, in order to have full moral status,one must be able to have moral concern for others and act upon this concern to even aminimal degree. In doing so, one will be considered to belong to a 'moral community,which affords the member a certain set of rights, privileges, and duties towards othercommunity members. Arguing for the existence of such a community achieves thepragmatic aspect of this thesis. I argue that morality is geared towards group-survivalstrategies which have been evolutionarily selected for, and thus by organizing societalstructures towards the tools which nature has armed us with, we may maximize thepowers and capacities of the community members.In order to achieve these aims, I defend a concept of morality as based in emotion,requiring certain neurological structures, which gives the first set of criteria for identifyingpotential members of the moral community. I then discuss the issue of identifying thecapacity for morality in non-human minds, arguing that we may infer moral capacities frombehaviourism.In summary, the findings of this paper are that first, morality is essentially emotionalin nature and is a product of the nature of our neurological system, although rationalprocesses and enculturation shape particular moral sensitivities and priorities. Second,one can infer the existence of moral capacities in animals from their behaviour, and, at riskof engaging in anthropomorphism, to deny these capacities completely entails solipsism.Thirdly, and most importantly, those who are capable of morally considering others oughtto be afforded full moral status themselves and be brought into a 'moral communitywherein special rights, freedoms, and privileges allow the members to most efficientlycontribute to the community, maximizing the powers and benefits of the community.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University