Saying that moral weight is based on sentience is IMO largely a tautology. Sentience is mostly the word we use for “whatever poorly defined features of a mind give it moral weight”.
Short version of my other response: Sentience and life are probably both nonsense words, but if we’re picking a nonsense word to define rigorously and care about, it should be sentience.
Saying that moral weight is based on sentience is IMO largely a tautology. Sentience is mostly the word we use for “whatever poorly defined features of a mind give it moral weight”.
Short version of my other response: Sentience and life are probably both nonsense words, but if we’re picking a nonsense word to define rigorously and care about, it should be sentience.
Even granting that, it at least expresses that moral weight is a function of a mind, which is not entirely tautological.
Hence the word “largely”.
Yes, but saying that everything alive deserves moral consideration is a different position.