Abstract
This paper explains a meaningful sense in which a painless death can be a misfortune for an invertebrate. The account presented is a logical implication of bringing together two distinct pieces of theory: the deprivation account of the harm of death and the biocentric ethical theory developed by the New Zealand philosopher, Nicholas Agar. Combined, the two theories support the following thesis: death harms an invertebrate because it deprives the individual of future biopreference satisfaction.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 151-157 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Australian Zoologist |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- animal welfare
- death
- ethics
- invertebrates