Harming the Non-conscious

Peter Singer has argued that nothing done to a fetus before it acquires consciousness can harm it. At the same time, he concedes that a child can be harmed by something done to it when it was a non-conscious fetus. But this implies that the non-conscious fetus can be harmed. The mistake lies in thin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Persson, Ingmar (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 1999
In: Bioethics
Year: 1999, Volume: 13, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 294-305
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Summary:Peter Singer has argued that nothing done to a fetus before it acquires consciousness can harm it. At the same time, he concedes that a child can be harmed by something done to it when it was a non-conscious fetus. But this implies that the non-conscious fetus can be harmed. The mistake lies in thinking that, since existence can be intrinsically bad for a being only if it is conscious, it can be harmed only if it is conscious. In fact, its being harmed only implies that it could have been conscious (and led a good life).
ISSN:1467-8519
Contains:Enthalten in: Bioethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/1467-8519.00158