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The Notion Of A Moral Client
This entails why we humans are worthy of moral consideration i.e. why we are proper moral clients and what makes ethics possible. Therefore an action or practice can be morally wrong if performing that action or practice is in some way contrary to some individuals true interest i.e. the only creature or individual who is worthy of a moral consideration is the one that may be said to have true interests.(The Moral Project, pg 2)The necessary condition for being a proper client therefore, is being a creature or an individual conscious mind since to have true interest in his case is to be capable of having states of awareness or consciousness, for instance it is un intelligible to speak of doing something morally wrong to a rock, a heap of or even a mountain hence we can commit immoral acts to rocks and mountains by doing things to them which are contrary to the true interests of a moral client for instance in this case it would be wrong to throw rocks at someone or to blow up a mountain since by doing so there will be destruction of important resource, object of beauty, and habitat for proper moral clients.( The Moral Project, pg 5)
There is no nonliving thin g that has interest that is conscious hence there are no known nonliving things that are proper moral clients. For instance, trees are very important to us humans and animals as well. If trees are not conscious and have no interests, they cannot intelligibly be said to be proper moral clients. Though we certainly both value and are interested in their survival, trees have no interests and cannot be said to value or be interested even in their own survival. Moreover, dogs and rabbits are said to be conscious and clearly do have interests i.e. interest in living and engaging in other various activities. we may speak of both rabbits and dogs as suffering and experiencing pleasure. Avoidance of suffering and attainment of pleasure are things that are truly in the interest of rabbits and dogs.
Evaluation Of The Notion Of A Moral Client
Given that having true interest, is a necessary condition of being a proper moral client it is argued that it is not sufficient there are other necessary conditions that must be met in order for some creatures to count as proper moral clients. It does not follow that all such creatures having true interest should be regarded as so. Therefore rabbits and dogs do not satisfy those additional conditions; for example, do indeed satisfy only one necessary condition of being a proper moral client (The Moral Project, p. 3).
An additional condition is that of an inherently evil creature i.e. suppose there were some creature , individual or being whose highest true interest was to cause suffering for , diminish and destroy all other forms of life, including and especially, human life. This is very common to humans and all other forms of life since the highest interest of such a being would be contrary to the interest of all living things and more so contrary to our own highest human interest in being moral. In spite of the fact that such being had a true interest, no such being can be said to be a proper moral client. The true interests of various individual humans as well as the true interests of various groups of humans frequently conflict since conflicts of interests are everywhere within the human community ( The Moral Project, p. 7). The distinctively ethical task is to avoid strife or harmful actions and to promote harmony and helpful actions in spite of such genuine conflicts of interests. Consequently, the fact that real conflicts of interest exists between humans and rabbits and dogs is scarcely grounds for asserting that rabbits and dogs or any ether nonhuman species are in any sense evil or for denying the fact that they are proper moral clients.
There is also an argument about such creatures like bedbugs, in that bed bug trapped in a bowl of water, trying to swim to safety, one may wonder if the bug is consciously experiencing anything or whether it is simply an intricately designed machine in a way that will promote its existence. They are many straightforward sense conscious and do have interests and hence such creatures are proper moral clients. (The Moral Project, pg 9) This reflection drives us to the question whether some proper moral clients should carry more weight moral deliberations than other proper moral clients. In this case, very real conflicts of interests are bound to occur between various moral clients for example, if your dog was covered with ticks, you would not hesitate to remove the ticks even if it will cost the ticks its lives. What justifies your moral acting in this way is. First, its not entirely clear that ticks are proper moral clients at all since it is not at all clear that they are conscious or capable of having conscious interests.
Secondly, even though they have some kind of primitive form of consciousness and true interest, the number and quality of their consciousness, complexity and richness of their interests is subject to comparison with those of a dog ( The Moral Project, p. 9).
Notion Of A Moral Agent
In this case we are studying the essential features paramount to the existence of a moral agent. Empathy being the first feature that is shared with other animals i.e. those animals in the highest evolutionary hierarchy. Empathy in this case is characterized as the act of putting ourselves in the sense of some conscious being or creature and having a sense of what it would be like to them. What is morally important about empathy is that we are driven to take action on behalf of those moral agents with whom we empathize. (The Moral Project, pg 10) since empathy is not an internal act of imagining what it would be to be like the other, but rather doing what prompts us to do something in the eyes of those imaginations, that will in some way try to improve the condition of the other person or creatures. For example, if someone is in terrible pain, then we try to imagine how terrible that pain is, its therefore more likely that we will be motivated to take an action of trying to alleviate their pain. From the evolution point of view, it is the practical action, even more than the internal state of imagining, that produced cooperative behavior and increased the likelihood of the survival of various members of the community or a group in the society.
It is also more interesting for humans to learn that, the internal state of imagining has come to be as important as the action taken. Since we do not value what others do for us , but we also value the fact that they care about us.
there is an issue of internal empathy which deals with the fact of imagining what it is to be another and external empathy which is concerned with the actions that promote the well being of others in the society.
The ability to identify with the full range of creatures which involve both human and nonhuman is very essential component of being moral. This is being moral because the ability to understand and care about all kinds of conscious creatures is covered.( The Moral Project, pg 14) It is the very ability to empathize with all kinds of human person and all kinds of other creatures that is required for one to become a proper moral agent. Secondly on the essentials of a moral agent is the kind of rational understanding that is required of humans. it is he kind of understanding which is concerned with a rational language which is unique to human beings.
Human language permits formulation of assertions or statements that are sentences that correctly or incorrectly describe the world which may be true or false we may consider a statement as true without considering the support of others statements. Therefore, humans are capable of evaluating the extent to which a given argument or string of reasoning is successful or not and more so, it is believed that those conclusions that have been properly established to be true we try to live our lives accordingly, we are said to be rational. Conscious animals or creatures are said to value or take interest in various items. For instance a squirrel is said to take interest or value in nuts.
Another essential requirement for moral agents to understand that it is always in true collective to place doing what is moral above every other interest including our own happiness in our very life. This is because in doing what is truly moral is doing whatever everyone could agree would truly be the best for everyone collectively. this is clear in instances where we do know what is best for everyone collectively in the society.
It is morally wrong to kill another human being.it is well known that this general prohibition against killing one another is best for everyone collectively. it also applicable to other general morals that is known and not believed to be true. for example general prohibition against stealing , against dishonesty, against causing physical harm to another person.( The Moral Project, pg 13) It is therefore essential for every community should have practices based upon moral prohibitions e.g. helping those in need of your assistance ,obligation to cooperate and also doing what is with and favorable to another persons true interests. It is more desirable for anyone to live in a community or a society where people accept and live by such moral truths.
Evaluation Of Moral Agents
Since language permits us to assert both things that are true as well as things that are false and, by means of reasoning, we can learn to distinguish which of our beliefs are true and which of them are false as well as which of them we only believe to be true and which of them we know to be true. In the case of addiction, before it was established that cigarettes cause cancer, people who were addicted to smoking were willing to put up with the minor disadvantages and discomfort of smoking e.g. coughing dry throat and occasional difficulty in breathing or speaking. ( The Moral Project, pg 16) by means of reason it was clearly established that smoking causes lung cancer and thereby causing terrible suffering and short life. When people already addicted became aware of the consequences they decided to stop smoking hence they came to value the disvaluing the pleasures of smoking.
Anyone who has ever experienced mutuality a relationship where both parties value one another as an end in themselves, doubt that the psychopaths would be better off if they came to develop the capacity for such mutuality by becoming a psychopaths. (The Moral Project, pg 19)There is also an argument that some people are more or less ethical in the way they treat their close friends, intimates and relatives as well as other members of some social class, ethnic groups, cultural sphere, religious organizations, political and national groups they belong, in their own opinion they think that those only who are within their inner circle or group are fully regarded as ends themselves. But the current moral project in the21st century requires us to look at the entire world as a single community with all the people everywhere as family members.
References
The Moral Project In The 21st Century. Chapter Five: Moral Clients & Moral Agents. 2008.
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