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On the moral status of hominins

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Abstract

This article evaluates the moral status of hominins, and obligations we may have towards them. In exploring these ethical considerations, I consider one of the most recent hominin finds: the ‘graveyard’ of Homo naledi in the Dinaledi caves at the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa. I argue that findings about H. naledi establish a pro tanto duty not to excavate their remains.

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Notes

  1. Video at: https://www.wits.ac.za/homonaledi/.

  2. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for prompting some important clarifications here, and for providing some helpful examples and suggestions.

  3. https://evolutionnews.org/2015/09/homo_naledi_as/.

  4. Video at: https://www.wits.ac.za/homonaledi/.

  5. Video at: https://www.wits.ac.za/homonaledi/.

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Correspondence to C. S. Wareham.

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Wareham, C.S. On the moral status of hominins. Monash Bioeth. Rev. 38, 205–218 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-019-00098-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-019-00098-6

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