The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why (A Norton Short)
Stock Information
Description
One of The New Yorker's Best Books of the Year
A philosopher calls for a revolution in ethics, suggesting we expand our “moral circle” to include insects, AI systems, and even microbes.
Today, human exceptionalism is the norm. Despite occasional nods to animal welfare, we prioritize humanity, often neglecting the welfare of a vast number of beings. As a result, we use hundreds of billions of vertebrates and trillions of invertebrates every year for a variety of purposes, often unnecessarily. We also plan to use animals, AI systems, and other nonhumans at even higher levels in the future. Yet as the dominant species, humanity has a responsibility to ask: Which nonhumans matter, how much do they matter, and what do we owe them in a world reshaped by human activity and technology?
In The Moral Circle, philosopher Jeff Sebo challenges us to include all potentially significant beings in our moral community, with transformative implications for our lives and societies
This book explores provocative case studies such as lawsuits over captive elephants and debates over factory-farmed insects, and compels us to consider future ethical quandaries, such as whether to send microbes to new planets, and whether to create virtual worlds filled with digital minds. Taking an expansive view of human responsibility, Sebo argues that building a positive future requires the shedding of human exceptionalism and radically rethinking our place in the world.
Praise for The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why (A Norton Short)
The Moral Circle is a thoroughly digestible and wonderfully approachable example of popular philosophy at its very best, as curious as it is careful.
— Science Magazine
As Al grows ever more complex…Sebo's guidance will become all the more valuable.
— Bryan Walsh - Vox, Future Perfect 50
A psychologically rich argument for moral imagination, asking readers to stretch their compassion in both personal and political ways.
— Girish Shukla - Times Now
[A] workout for your brain, in the best sense: Sebo writes with great clarity, so you can follow the knottiest problems.
— Michael Marshall - New Scientist
Sebo’s book is a pleasure to read. Never hectoring, it calls on readers to acknowledge their biases.…Its arguments have wide applicability.
— Noel Castree - Conversation
The Moral Circle deserves great praise for its clear and engaging style, its humor and witty thought experiments, and its accessible introduction to a range of complex philosophical issues… exhilarating and mind-expanding.
— Nicolas Delon - Ethics, Policy & Environment
In The Moral Circle, Jeff Sebo defends, with engaging examples and plausible arguments, a disturbing conclusion: that the expansion of the moral circle beyond our own species, for which I have argued, does not go nearly far enough. I expect this book to trigger an important debate.
— Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation and Animal Liberation Now
Does what happen to an insect, a plant, or a robot matter to them? Compelling thought experiments make The Moral Circle a fascinating read. Jeff Sebo’s conclusion that we owe a lot to a vast number and wide range of beings will surely expand readers’ empathy and compassion.
— Barbara J. King, author of Animals' Best Friends and How Animals Grieve
In The Moral Circle Jeff Sebo shows us how complicated and disconcerting things get when we consider what that moral circle would include and whether we can really justify leaving any living thing outside the boundaries of our moral concern. Elephants, pretty easy. Bugs? Plants? Plankton? You will disagree with parts of this book, but your own disagreement will leave you feeling uncomfortable, because the moral arguments are indeed strong; they challenge the self-interests that have shaped the ways we have treated and mistreated other beings.
— Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words and Alfie and Me
A riveting expansion of ethical concerns.
— Marc Bekoff - Psychology Today
Philosopher Sebo argues for an expansion of moral thinking to include animals, insects, plants, microbes, and even artificial intelligence...A thoughtful unsettling of moral certainty.
— Kirkus Reviews
![Sapiens [Tenth Anniversary Edition]: A Brief History of Humankind](https://images.booksense.com/images/001/422/9780063422001.jpg)
