Mild addenda: my current understanding is that a single electron can’t suffer because electrons don’t have states that vary (and I agree with at least that bit of the OP that things need to have different states for moral patient-hood), but it’s at least possibly-plausible that a small group of electrons could be a (low weight) moral patient.
Electrons have physical properties that vary all the time: position, velocity, distance to the nearest proton, etc (ignoring Heisenberg uncertainty complications). But yeah, these variables rely on the electron being embedded in an environment.
Nod. I don’t know if I can articulate this rigorously, but I have a sense that for a thing to suffer, the thing needs to have “internal variable state”. So a system-containing-electrons can (possibly) suffer but an electron can’t.
Moreover, they can vary with changes to the environment that aren’t changes to the electron. They aren’t proper or intrinsic to the electron, but intuitively ones qualia are intrinsic.
Mild addenda: my current understanding is that a single electron can’t suffer because electrons don’t have states that vary (and I agree with at least that bit of the OP that things need to have different states for moral patient-hood), but it’s at least possibly-plausible that a small group of electrons could be a (low weight) moral patient.
Electrons have physical properties that vary all the time: position, velocity, distance to the nearest proton, etc (ignoring Heisenberg uncertainty complications). But yeah, these variables rely on the electron being embedded in an environment.
Nod. I don’t know if I can articulate this rigorously, but I have a sense that for a thing to suffer, the thing needs to have “internal variable state”. So a system-containing-electrons can (possibly) suffer but an electron can’t.
Moreover, they can vary with changes to the environment that aren’t changes to the electron. They aren’t proper or intrinsic to the electron, but intuitively ones qualia are intrinsic.
How do you know that they aren’t intrinsic to the electron?