Religion & Law

In light of our recent conversation about Christianity's debt to Kant, we might find helpful Purdue philosophy prof Patrick Kain's recent paper, Kant's Defense of Human Moral Status.  Here's a summary:

The determination of individual moral status is a central factor in the ethical evaluation of controversial practices such as elective abortion, human embryo-destructive research, and the care of the severely disabled and those in persistent vegetative states. A review of recent work on Kant reveals the need for a careful examination of the content of Kant?s biological and psychological theories and their relation to his views about moral status. Such an examination, in conjunction with Kant?s practical-metaphysical analysis of the origins of freedom, reveals Kant?s principled basis for his contention that all human beings possess moral status.