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Central Argument It is often claimed by a certain flavor of social progressive that “sex work is work” and that “sex work is just as legitimate as any other kind of work”. The implication, among other things, is that both buying and selling sex should be legalized. However, feminist philosopher Lori Watson(who disagrees with meContinue reading “An Argument That Sex Work is Not Work”

Introduction Even among supporters of animal rights, there is a common belief that death per se is not harmful to non-human animals. That is, it is morally permissible to kill an animal so long as you do so in a relatively painless way. On this view, while animals are harmed thought experiencing conscious suffering, theyContinue reading “Why Even A Painless Death is Harmful to Animals”

Introduction In my last post, I offered an detailed case for the pro-choice view. One important pro-life argument I covered was Don Marquis’ future-like-ours argument. The basic idea is that since the typical fetus has a conscious future full of rich memories and experiences, killing the fetus through abortion robs them of this future. ThisContinue reading “Psychological Connections and the Future-Like-Ours Argument”

Introduction Abortion is one of the most controversial ethical disputes in both moral philosophy and everyday life. On the one hand, pro-life advocates insist that most if not all abortions involve the unjust killing of an innocent person and should thus be illegal. Call this the “conservative” view. On the other hand, pro-choice advocates believeContinue reading “Why a Liberal View on Abortion Is Correct”

Alastair Norcross, a philosopher from x University, presented an influential analogy relating to animal rights in his paper Puppies, Pigs, and People. In the paper, Norcross paints a colorful picture of a man named Fred inflicting horrific suffering on cute little puppies in order to preserve his ability to enjoy the taste of chocolate. Everyone,Continue reading “The Analogical Argument For Animal Rights”

Mark Rowlands, a famous and well-respected animals rights philosopher, has crafted a succinct argument in favor of attributing moral rights to non-human animals. The argument runs as follows: Call this the “core argument” for animal rights. This post will defend each premise of the core argument for animal rights. Most objections to animal rights areContinue reading “The Core Argument for Animal Rights”

Introduction Almost all pro-life advocates hold that human species membership is sufficient for personhood. Zygotes, embryos, fetuses, 5 year olds, 20 year olds, and 80 year olds, are all equal in dignity and moral value by virtue of belonging to the human species. However, thought experiments can tease out the extremely counter-intuitive nature of thisContinue reading “Two Thought Experiments Against the Pro-life View”

Introduction Psychological theories of personhood ground moral status in the possession of mental states and conscious experience. On my preferred theory, a person is a being with thoughts and feelings that are experienced in a psychologically continuous way. Of the numerous objections launched against psychological theories of personhood by pro-life advocates, three stick out asContinue reading “Defending a Psychological Basis For Personhood”

Introduction Disputes around personhood form one of the most important disagreements when it comes to abortion ethics. Pro-life advocates insist that abortion involves the killing of an innocent person, a being with significant moral status and rights, while pro-choice advocates tend to reject this assumption. This post will argue that pro-choice advocates are right toContinue reading “A Psychological Basis For Personhood”