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bumharmony t1_ir4dm7z wrote

Reply to comment by contractualist in Freedom is the Foundation of Morality (or why ought implies can) by contractualist

So a sleeping person has no rights? An embryo has no rights although he is like a sleeping person who wakes up later - in this case only much later?

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contractualist OP t1_ir4qvrj wrote

Sleeping people definitely have rights, as well as people under anesthesia. It’s the existing capacity for consciousness that’s morally relevant.

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bumharmony t1_ir52c8h wrote

So other people get to decide about the fate of a coma patient? How you know it is voluntary? I don’t see how the capacity argument works if there is no active participation to decision making. If an unborn baby ”wakes” up earlier than a coma patient, I would say that baby has more capacity to decide than that coma patient who let’s say wakes up in 5 years. (The chaotic slippery slope here is that we need to give birth to all potential babies)

Okay. The coma patient has showcased his capacity at some point but what if the rules have changed since and there is no evidence that he agrees with the common train of thought or whatever the given fixed point is.

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