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Autonomy, the moral circle, and the limits of ownership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2023

Christina Starmans Open the ORCID record for Christina Starmans [Opens in a new window]
Christina Starmans*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada christina.starmans@utoronto.ca
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Abstract

Why can't we own people? Boyer proposes that the key consideration concerns inclusion in the moral circle. I propose an alternative, which is that specific mental capacities, especially the capacity for autonomy, play a key role in determining judgments about human and animal ownership. Autonomous beings are viewed as owning themselves, which precludes them from being owned by others.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e350
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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