Citation

Author Website

https://publichealth.nyu.edu/faculty/claudia-maria-passos-ferreira

Thread

Jonathan Birch, Précis of The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI

Abstract

Birch proposes that human fetuses be recognized as sentience candidates from 12 weeks, on the grounds that midbrain-centered theories fall within the zone of reasonable disagreement among theories of consciousness. I raise a methodological and a policy problem for his view. Methodologically, whether the midbrain-centered view belongs within the zone is disputed, so there is no consensus about the consensus.  Furthermore, the evidence Birch discusses for 12 weeks does not actually estimate the onset of sentience; the proposed threshold tracks anatomical rather than functional onset. On policy, the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling shows that fetal sentience is difficult to disentangle from abortion law. I discuss more defensible lines for sentience candidature in fetuses, given Birch’s own criteria.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Claudia Passos-Ferreira is Assistant Professor of Bioethics at NYU Center for Bioethics, with affiliations in Philosophy and the Center for Mind, Ethics and Policy. Her current research concerns consciousness in non-verbal populations — infants, fetuses, and machines — and the ethics of digital minds.  Website

DOI

10.51291/2377-7478.1953