Moral Status: Obligations to Persons and Other Living Things

Mary Anne Warren investigates a theoretical question that is at the center of practical and professional ethics: what are the criteria for having moral status? That is, what does it take to be an entity towards which people have moral considerations? Warren argues that no single property will do as a sole criterion, and puts forward seven basic principles as criteria. She then applies these principles to three controversial moral issues: voluntary euthanasia, abortion, and the moral status of animals.