Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons'

Re:Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human p... by chc on Monday January 10, 2011 @01:24PM (#2089241)

Did the scientists say why their opinion on moral matters is headline news?

I don't even disagree with them. It's just that whether something should be treated as a "non-human person" is a matter of values, and I don't think the common set of values around personhood has anything to do with intelligence. If you want it to, you need to change that first.

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Re:Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human p... by sigzero on Monday January 10, 2011 @01:38PM (#2089281)

I agree with your first sentence.

I do disagree with them though. I don't think there is such a thing as a "non-human person" let alone applying it to the animal kingdom.

Edit: PETA must love it though

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Re:Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human p... by chc on Monday January 10, 2011 @01:44PM (#2089305)

Then I think you agree with my entire comment. What I meant to get at is, my values and these scientists' values are both uncommon and non-normative, so they're pretty much irrelevant — most people don't care about the intellectual or emotional qualities of the creature in considering whether it's a person. The general heuristic is something along the lines of "Is it identifiably H. sapiens and alive?"

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