Moral agency in chimpanzees
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Date
2009-02-02T11:57:02Z
Authors
Gray, Jennifer
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Abstract
Abstract.
In their treatment of juveniles, chimpanzees show exceptional tolerance
towards the behaviours of juvenile chimpanzees and go to great lengths to
care for juvenile chimpanzees. This report will examine the behaviours shown
by adult chimpanzees towards juvenile chimpanzees to see whether this
behaviour indicates that chimpanzees have moral agency. The question of
the report is “Does the treatment of juvenile chimpanzees indicate that
chimpanzees have moral agency, understood as the ability to act in a virtuous
manner, the possession of intellectual skills that allow an understanding of
moral rules and the ability to accept responsibility for one’s actions and to hold
others accountable for their actions?” The report will attempt to defend an
affirmative answer to this question.