Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons'

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6973994.ece

by ca98am79 • 16 years ago

15 6 16 years ago

timesonline.co.uk

leed25d• 16 years ago

so, uh, would they be able to make contributions to political campaigns?

chc2• 16 years ago

Did the scientists say why their opinion on moral matters is headline news?

I don't even disagree with them. It's just that whether something should be treated as a "non-human person" is a matter of values, and I don't think the common set of values around personhood has anything to do with intelligence. If you want it to, you need to change that first.

sigzero• 16 years ago

I agree with your first sentence.

I do disagree with them though. I don't think there is such a thing as a "non-human person" let alone applying it to the animal kingdom.

Edit: PETA must love it though

chc2• 16 years ago

Then I think you agree with my entire comment. What I meant to get at is, my values and these scientists' values are both uncommon and non-normative, so they're pretty much irrelevant — most people don't care about the intellectual or emotional qualities of the creature in considering whether it's a person. The general heuristic is something along the lines of "Is it identifiably H. sapiens and alive?"

jpwagner• 16 years ago

previous discussion:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1875014

TNO• 16 years ago

What does that mean anyway? We can't even come to an agreement on how to treat human persons.

Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons'

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