Psychology Dictionary of Arguments

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Life: Life is the state of being characterized by growth, metabolism, homeostasis, adaptation, reproduction, and response to stimuli. Living organisms are made up of cells, which are the basic units of life.
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Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments.

 
Author Concept Summary/Quotes Sources

Peter Singer on Life - Dictionary of Arguments

I 53
Life/Human/Animal/P. Singer: while the bearing of pain in animals is no less weighty than in humans, it is not yet clear whether the death of a conscious and self-conscious human being is more important than that of a creature that does not have these qualities.
>Animals
, >Death, >Pain, >Suffering.
I 71
Life/Singer: when people say that life is holy, they almost never mean what they say, they mean only human life.
>Life, >Humans.
I 72
Moreover, many are granted at the same time the right to self-defense.
I 90
Life/Utilitarianism/P. Singer: can we weigh the lives of different species against each other? For example, can we decide whether the life of a merely conscious being, e.g. an animal, is worth less than that of a self-conscious being like the human. Can we weigh degrees of consciousness and self-consciousness against each other?
>Consciousness, >Self-consciousness.
I 91
For this purpose, we should perhaps assume that when we are transformed into a horse, for example, we could still remember what it was like to be a human being. Only then could we compare the different existences. ((s Such a horse would not be a horse in the true sense of the word).
P. Singer: N.B.: If we get involved at all, we have blocked the way to the position where we could say that a life is always the most important thing for the living being from its point of view. Because now we have taken a more objective approach.
I 92
Could one then claim that a life that is more self-conscious would be worth more than one that is less self-conscious? J. St. Mill tried that. See Life/Mill.
I 107
Life/consciousness/P. Singer: is it even possible to replace knowing beings? According to Henry Salt(1) it is a mistake to compare existence with non-existence here.
I 108
Singer: I myself have changed my mind about this since the first edition of "Animal Liberation"(2): I used to think it was absurd to believe that we would do a being a favor if we helped him to exist.
New: If we assume that it is bad to help a suffering being to exist, it is difficult to argue that it is not good to allow a happy being to live.


1. Henry Salt, The Humanities of Diet, Manchester, (1914)
1. Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, Avon Books (1977)

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Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments
The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition.

SingerP I
Peter Singer
Practical Ethics (Third Edition) Cambridge 2011

SingerP II
P. Singer
The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically. New Haven 2015


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