Veit, Walter and Browning, Heather (2023) Defending Sentientism. [Preprint]
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Abstract
The last decade has seen an explosion of interest in the possibility of suffering in non-humans, including animals only very distantly related to us, as well as artificial intelligence systems. Much of this research takes a stance that has come to be known as ‘sentientism’ - i.e. that capacity to have negative or positive feelings is necessary (and, typically, sufficient) for moral status. Dissatisfied with this development, Shepherd (2023) has recently offered a series of arguments against the view that consciousness is necessary for moral status. However, as researchers involved in research on sentience in non-human animals and artificial intelligences, as well as ethics regarding non-human minds, we did not find his arguments very convincing. Here, we shall use this opportunity to defend sentientism, which we hope will clarify why the view is becoming ever closer to the mainstream position in the field, and eliminate some common misconceptions. We will do so by addressing each of his arguments in order.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
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| Keywords: | sentience; animal sentience; AI sentience; policy-making; moral status; neuroscience; neuroethics | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence General Issues > Ethical Issues Specific Sciences > Neuroscience General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Walter Veit | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 03 Mar 2023 14:04 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 03 Mar 2023 14:04 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 21817 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence General Issues > Ethical Issues Specific Sciences > Neuroscience General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Date: | 2023 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21817 |
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