The equal worth of each
A stranger's suffering weighs no less than a loved one's.
Supports
- A pain is a pain, whether the one who feels it is my own or a stranger: that they are "mine" is a fact about me, not about the worth of their suffering.
- To give priority to my own simply because they are mine is a , any more than favoring one's nation or one's color.
- shows it with a clear case: if I dive in to save the child drowning before me, neither distance nor the absence of a bond changes what I owe to the child dying elsewhere.
Therefore Morality therefore asks us to count each one equally: partiality toward our own is a leaning, not a just reason.
How far does this reasoning convince you?
Not at all
Entirely
Deepenings
The expanding circle
- Moral history resembles a circle of consideration that widens: from family to clan, then to the nation, then to humanity, and perhaps one day to animals able to suffer.
- With each widening, a boundary once thought natural appears, in hindsight, as a mere prejudice.
How far does this reasoning convince you?
Not at all
Entirely
Put to the test
Objection