Mati_Roy answers What ethical thought experiments can be reversed?

[Mati_Roy]

Infanticide

Original:

1. We don’t care about killing a baby before birth

2. A baby 1 minutes after birth is almost the same as a baby 1 minute before birth

3. Therefore we don’t care about killing a 1 minute-old baby

Reversed:

1. We care about killing a 1 minute-old baby

2. A baby 1 minutes after birth is almost the same as a baby 1 minute before birth

3. Therefore we care about killing a baby before birth

[DanArmak]

Isn’t the original argument here just the Sorites “paradox”?

1. We don’t care about killing a single fertilized human cell

2. A human of any age is almost the same as a human of that age minus one minute

3. Therefore we don’t care about killing a human of any age

This proves too much. No ethical system I’m familiar with holds that because (physical) things change gradually over time, no moral rule can distinguish two things.

[Mati_Roy]

Ah, I actually had just came up with that one (am now realizing “original” wasn’t the right word for this one) -- thanks for bringing up this “paradox”!