The Moral Nature of Gestation & the Political Significance of Birth

Recent work in the metaphysics of pregnancy tells us that foetuses are best conceived as body parts which will transform into independent organisms after birth. This picture raises several philosophical questions. One question is whether birth is as morally or politically relevant as it is biologically relevant. Another relevant question is: what, exactly, is the status of foetuses before birth? Are they moral persons with rights? Are they citizens? Or are they merely morally consider-able — that is, appropriate subjects of moral concern? In this presentation, I will attempt to make progress on these difficult yet pressing questions.

Luara Ferracioli
https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/luara-ferracioli.html
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Sydney

About the Speaker:

My main areas of interest are the ethics of immigration, citizenship, and the family, broadly conceived. Sometimes I bring these areas of interest together, as when I discuss the ethics of family migration schemes, and the value of citizenship for children. My first book, Liberal Self-Determination in a World of Migration, was published in 2022 by Oxford University Press. My second book, Parenting and the Goods of Childhood, was published in 2023, also with OUP. It provides a new theory of what justice requires from parents, both adoptive and biological. My next book The Future of Gestation: A Normative Inquiry is under contract with OUP.

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This is a talk with audience Q&A presented by the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics that is free to attend and open to the public. Free pizza and refreshments will be provided at the event.

About the Centre for Ethics (http://ethics.utoronto.ca):

The Centre for Ethics is an interdisciplinary centre aimed at advancing research and teaching in the field of ethics, broadly defined. The Centre seeks to bring together the theoretical and practical knowledge of diverse scholars, students, public servants and social leaders in order to increase understanding of the ethical dimensions of individual, social, and political life.

In pursuit of its interdisciplinary mission, the Centre fosters lines of inquiry such as (1) foundations of ethics, which encompasses the history of ethics and core concepts in the philosophical study of ethics; (2) ethics in action, which relates theory to practice in key domains of social life, including bioethics, business ethics, and ethics in the public sphere; and (3) ethics in translation, which draws upon the rich multiculturalism of the City of Toronto and addresses the ethics of multicultural societies, ethical discourse across religious and cultural boundaries, and the ethics of international society.

The Ethics of A.I. Lab at the Centre For Ethics recently appeared on a list of 10 organizations leading the way in ethical A.I.: https://ocean.sagepub.com/blog/10-organizations-leading-the-way-in-ethical-ai