Starting assumptions

These assumptions are starting points, not finished truths. Each can be criticised, refined and revised.

Life deserves consideration

Living things are not merely material for someone else’s purposes. What that means in concrete conflicts remains open.

Conscious experience matters

Where a being can experience, suffer, hope or flourish, something is at stake for that being. Our knowledge of consciousness is incomplete; caution is therefore a stance, not a ranking system.

Freedom requires reasons for intervention

People should be able to shape their lives according to their own views. Interventions need reasons, especially when they create avoidable harm or involuntary risks.

The future counts

A decision is incomplete when it shifts its costs to other places, other beings or later generations.