/lit/ - Literature

Give me one reason why we shouldn't just be allowed to kill Daniel Dennet, shoot Daniel Dennet in the head, torture him, etc. Clearly the principle of charity should lead us to conclude that his belief in the unreality of qualia is genuine; and the most rational explanation for that belief is that he is himself unable to experience qualia, that he is himself unconscious. Murdering, torturing, or causing him damage should not therefore be seen as an immoral act, because it is the equivalent to torturing any non-conscious being such as a plant. Any behavioural responses he might display while he is being tortured should not be considered in moral terms such as pain and suffering, because they are simply the effects of biochemical functions in his brain, and do not point to any inward painful experience. Clearly if something does not have a mind, like Dennet apparently does not, then we should not afford it any moral consideration.