Expanding Moral Horizons: Rethinking Consciousness and Ethics
In two provocative new books, 'Animals, Robots, Gods' by Webb Keane and 'The Moral Circle' by Jeff Sebo, readers are invited to radically reimagine our understanding of consciousness, sentience, and moral consideration.
Keane and Sebo challenge traditional anthropocentric perspectives by arguing that consciousness is not a binary state but a complex spectrum. Their work suggests that moral worth should extend beyond human boundaries, potentially including animals, artificial intelligences, and other forms of cognitive existence.
Key insights from these works include:
- Consciousness is more nuanced and distributed than previously understood
- Ethical frameworks must evolve to accommodate emerging forms of intelligence
- Technological and biological entities may share more cognitive characteristics than we recognize
The authors propose that our moral circle should continuously expand, incorporating a more inclusive and empathetic approach to understanding sentience. By challenging rigid categorizations, they encourage readers to develop more sophisticated, compassionate ethical frameworks.
These groundbreaking works represent a critical intervention in philosophy, cognitive science, and ethics, offering a compelling vision of a more nuanced, interconnected understanding of consciousness and moral consideration.
