[MaFLa] invitation to a talk by Zoltan Miklosi on`The Basis of Equal Moral Status -`24 January, 5.30 PM

[Krisztina Biber]

The CEU Department of Philosophy cordially invites you to a talk
(as part of its Departmental Colloquium series)
by
Zoltán Miklósi (CEU)
on
`The Basis of Equal Moral Status`
 
Tuesday, 24 January, 2012, 5.30 PM, Zrinyi 14, Room 412
 
ABSTRACT
According to a widelyshared view, the equal moral status of persons is
grounded in the possession ofcertain capacities that are related to the
possibility of rational thought andagency. It is usually accepted that
even though the capacities that groundpersonhood are possessed by human
beings to varying degrees, the moral statusof persons is not a matter of
degree: all of those who possess the relevantcapacities to a certain
degree have equal moral status and are owed equalrespect and concern.
However, it is not clear what justifies treatingpersonhood as a range
property, to the effect that differences in theunderlying capacities do
not matter above the threshold, even though they domatter across the
threshold. I will examine different proposals that seek tojustify the
range property view that rely on a requirement of evaluativeabstinence,
and I argue that they are unsatisfactory. Finally, I will considera
different approach that may explain some of our firmly held beliefs in
thisarea, and which might be capable of showing why differences in the
underlyingcapacities are indeed irrelevant from this respect. The new
proposal is based on the idea thatthe existing approaches misrepresent
the moral significance of personhoodcapacities. Their importance lies
not in grounding moral status but in makingdistinctive forms of
well-being available to those who possess them.
 
 
 
 Kriszta Biber
Department Coordinator
Philosophy Department
Tel: 36-1-327-3806
Fax: 36-1-327-3072
E-mail: biberk at ceu.hu
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