Well, maybe less of an approximation and more of a safe lower bound. If I’m confident that the metaphysical criterion I’m concerned about begins sometime after birth but I’m not sure exactly when, I might suggest a legal threshold of birth to be on the safe side, as it might be infeasible and morally risky to evaluate individual infants on a case-by-case basis.
That makes sense. As a bit of a side question (feel free to ignore), if you were 99% sure that your metaphysical criterion was after birth, would that count as “on the safe side” enough to suggest a legal threshold of birth (and not before at all) for you? How confident would you have to be?
Well, maybe less of an approximation and more of a safe lower bound. If I’m confident that the metaphysical criterion I’m concerned about begins sometime after birth but I’m not sure exactly when, I might suggest a legal threshold of birth to be on the safe side, as it might be infeasible and morally risky to evaluate individual infants on a case-by-case basis.
That makes sense. As a bit of a side question (feel free to ignore), if you were 99% sure that your metaphysical criterion was after birth, would that count as “on the safe side” enough to suggest a legal threshold of birth (and not before at all) for you? How confident would you have to be?