Most people do this intuitionally, and most people keep to make rationalisations of their intuitive judgements or construct neat logical moral theories in order to support them (and these theories usually fail to describe what they are intended to describe, because of their simplicity relative to the complexity of an average man’s value system).
That said, for me an agent is the more morally significant the more is it similar to human, and I determine suffering by comparison with my own experiences and some necessary extrapolation. Not much useful answer perhaps, but I don’t know of any better.
for me an agent is the more morally significant the more is it similar to human
Similar to a human in what way? We’re more closely related to the aforementioned cartilaginous fish than to any given sapient alien. We probably have psychology more similar to that of a border collie than that of at least some possible types of sapient alien.
As for the fish, I don’t know, it depends how the aliens are thinking and communicating. In this respect, I don’t feel much similarity with fish anyway.
As for the collie, very probably we are more similar. And I would probably care more about border collies than about crystalline baby-eating aliens. If you have a dog, you can probably imagine that the relation between a man and a collie can be pretty strong.
And you are hiding the complexity of “moral significance” in “similarity”. Is a statue of a human more similar to a human than a horse? Is a human corpse? What if you take out the brain and replace it with a life-support system that keeps the rest of the body alive?
Similarity of thinking, communication and behaviour makes very important part. So statues and corpses don’t rank high in my value list.
You may have a point, but similarity sounds a bit less vague to me than moral significance. At least it makes some restrictions: if objects A and B differ only in one quality, and A is human-like in this quality while B not so, then A is clearly more similar to humans. If A is more human-like in certain respects while B in other, more precise description is needed, but I can’t describe my preferences and their forming more precisely at the moment.
more morally significant the more is it similar to human
I’d expand this to “the more I empathize with it”. Often, I feel more strongly about the suffering of some felines than some humans.
Of course, that’s just a description, not a recommendation. The question of “what entities should one empathize with” remains difficult. Most answers which are self-consistent and match observed behaviors are pretty divergent from the signaling (including self-signaling) that you’d like to give out.
Of course it’s a description. I understood the original post as asking for description as much as recommendation.
The question “what entities should one empathize with” is as difficult as many similar questions about morality, since it’s not absolutely clear what “should” means here. If your values form a system which can derive the answer, do it; but one can hardly expect wide consensus. My recommendation is: you don’t need the answer, instead use your own intuition. I think the chances that our intuitions overlap significantly are higher than chances of discovering an answer satisfactory for all.
Most people do this intuitionally, and most people keep to make rationalisations of their intuitive judgements or construct neat logical moral theories in order to support them (and these theories usually fail to describe what they are intended to describe, because of their simplicity relative to the complexity of an average man’s value system).
That said, for me an agent is the more morally significant the more is it similar to human, and I determine suffering by comparison with my own experiences and some necessary extrapolation. Not much useful answer perhaps, but I don’t know of any better.
Similar to a human in what way? We’re more closely related to the aforementioned cartilaginous fish than to any given sapient alien. We probably have psychology more similar to that of a border collie than that of at least some possible types of sapient alien.
Similar in an intuitive way.
As for the fish, I don’t know, it depends how the aliens are thinking and communicating. In this respect, I don’t feel much similarity with fish anyway.
As for the collie, very probably we are more similar. And I would probably care more about border collies than about crystalline baby-eating aliens. If you have a dog, you can probably imagine that the relation between a man and a collie can be pretty strong.
And you are hiding the complexity of “moral significance” in “similarity”. Is a statue of a human more similar to a human than a horse? Is a human corpse? What if you take out the brain and replace it with a life-support system that keeps the rest of the body alive?
Similarity of thinking, communication and behaviour makes very important part. So statues and corpses don’t rank high in my value list.
You may have a point, but similarity sounds a bit less vague to me than moral significance. At least it makes some restrictions: if objects A and B differ only in one quality, and A is human-like in this quality while B not so, then A is clearly more similar to humans. If A is more human-like in certain respects while B in other, more precise description is needed, but I can’t describe my preferences and their forming more precisely at the moment.
more morally significant the more is it similar to human
I’d expand this to “the more I empathize with it”. Often, I feel more strongly about the suffering of some felines than some humans.
Of course, that’s just a description, not a recommendation. The question of “what entities should one empathize with” remains difficult. Most answers which are self-consistent and match observed behaviors are pretty divergent from the signaling (including self-signaling) that you’d like to give out.
Of course it’s a description. I understood the original post as asking for description as much as recommendation.
The question “what entities should one empathize with” is as difficult as many similar questions about morality, since it’s not absolutely clear what “should” means here. If your values form a system which can derive the answer, do it; but one can hardly expect wide consensus. My recommendation is: you don’t need the answer, instead use your own intuition. I think the chances that our intuitions overlap significantly are higher than chances of discovering an answer satisfactory for all.