Brain damage and the moral significance of consciousness.
The Journal of medicine and philosophy February 1, 2009 Guy Kahane, Julian Savulescu 126 citations
Neuroimaging studies of brain-damaged patients diagnosed as in the vegetative state suggest that the patients might be conscious. This might seem to raise no new ethical questions given that in related disputes both sides agree that evidence for consciousness gives strong reason to preserve life. We question this assumption. We clarify the widely held but obscure principle that consciousness is...