The meaningful question (at least, to the degree that any moral question can be meaningful) is whether there is any value in that “unmodified” qualifier.
It matters precisely to the extent that the premodified entity desires to not be modified and that the premodified entity’s values matter.
That the premodified entity’s values matter seems to have been generally assumed all round in this thread. That the premodified entity desires to not be modified seems an extremely reasonable assumption.
I maintain that house-elves created from scratch are completely different from identical house-elves created by modifying free elves against their will. Lumping the two together will produce non-well-defined moral judgments.
It matters precisely to the extent that the premodified entity desires to not be modified and that the premodified entity’s values matter.
That the premodified entity’s values matter seems to have been generally assumed all round in this thread. That the premodified entity desires to not be modified seems an extremely reasonable assumption.
Sorry, I should have used “non-artificial” or something else; I intended to also include the quoted case of house elves having been created ad hoc.
I maintain that house-elves created from scratch are completely different from identical house-elves created by modifying free elves against their will. Lumping the two together will produce non-well-defined moral judgments.