Mary Anne Warren 1946 – 2010
Mary Anne Warren (1946 – 2010) was an American philosopher of the Contemporary era, associated with Analytic Philosophy and Feminism.
Mary Anne Warren was an American moral philosopher long associated with San Francisco State University, whose work in applied ethics shaped the late-twentieth-century debates over abortion, animal rights, and the moral status of persons. Her 1973 essay On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion argued that personhood, not biological humanity, is the morally relevant category, and proposed five characteristics, including consciousness, reasoning, and self-awareness, by which moral personhood could be recognized. Moral Status: Obligations to Persons and Other Living Things developed a multi-criterial framework for the moral status of human and non-human animals, and remains a standard reference in applied ethics and bioethics.
Key facts
- Nationality
- American
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Analytic Philosophy, Feminism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Mary Anne Warren:
“What matters morally is personhood, not the bare fact of biological humanity.”
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Attributed to Mary Anne Warren:
“There is no single criterion of moral status; there are several, and they apply by degree.”
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Attributed to Mary Anne Warren:
“The moral community is wider than the species; it extends as far as the relevant capacities reach.”
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Attributed to Mary Anne Warren:
“To be a person is to be a being with whom moral life can be shared.”
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Attributed to Mary Anne Warren:
“Applied ethics begins where general theory ends and concrete cases begin.”
Frequently asked about Mary Anne Warren
- When did Mary Anne Warren live?
- Mary Anne Warren was born in 1946 and died in 2010.
- Where was Mary Anne Warren from?
- Mary Anne Warren was an American philosopher of the Contemporary era.
- What philosophical movements is Mary Anne Warren associated with?
- Mary Anne Warren was associated with Analytic Philosophy and Feminism.
- What was Mary Anne Warren known for?
- Mary Anne Warren was an American moral philosopher long associated with San Francisco State University, whose work in applied ethics shaped the late-twentieth-century debates over abortion, animal rights, and the moral status of persons.
- How many quotes are attributed to Mary Anne Warren?
- There are 5 attributed quotations from Mary Anne Warren in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.