Killing Persons and Other Beings

Abstract

What beings are we obliged not to kill? ‘Persons’ leaps rapidly to the lips of most. A sustained colloquy would perhaps elicit numerous exceptions: except when guilty of a heinous offense, except in times of war, and so forth. The grounds of these exceptions are worth wondering about; the grounds of the obligation still more. And we might ask whether it is only persons that we are obliged not to kill, or do we have such obligations to other beings as well? What I will argue is that consciousness, simple or reflexive, is sufficient for imposing on us a prima facie obligation not to kill its subject.