An outline of the twelve chapters

-- Chapter 1. The foundation of ethics is equal consideration for "interests",

wherever they lie.

-- Chapter 2. Even if there are genetic differences between cultures or genders,

these are morally irrelevant (if you treat them as relevant, you're not showing
equal consideration for interests wherever they lie). However, equal consideration
for interests can lead to unequal results (eg financial aid to the person born
poor).

-- Chapter 3. Differences between species are morally irrelevant (speciesism is not

showing equal consideration for interests wherever they lie). Our interests in
tasting meat don't outweigh animals' interests in avoiding suffering.

-- Chapter 4. There's nothing sacred about life in itself, nor human life in
itself. What's importantly wrong with killing is that it violates future-directed
interests. Also, it's arguable that it decreases, or will decrease, the total
amount of happiness in the world.

-- Chapter 5. You need self-consciousness to have future-directed interests, so

it's arguable that there's nothing wrong with killing things that don't have self-
consciousness and are "replaceable". Some animals are rational and self-conscious,
and some aren't. Killing an adult chimp is worse than killing a human infant.

-- Chapter 6. Until a fetus has the capacity for pain and pleasure (18 weeks), it's
morally neutral whether to kill it. Until it has self-awareness (one month after
birth), it should have the same rights as any other non-self-aware animal. In cases
of extreme disability it's natural and humane to kill the infant, in order to avoid
suffering to both child and parents.

-- Chapter 7. Non-voluntary euthanasia (eg the person is in a permanent coma) is

neither good nor bad in itself. Voluntary euthanasia is morally acceptable, since
the patient wants to die now, and has no interest in a future. Legalizing
euthanasia might cause a small number of unnecessary deaths, but these are far
outweighed by the large amount of pain and suffering that not legalizing euthanasia
will cause.

-- Chapter 8. There's no moral difference between act and omission, between killing
someone and letting them die. It's only consequences that matter. Therefore, rich
countries allowing poor countries to die is murder.

-- Chapter 9. There's no moral difference between political refugees and economic

refugees. Immigration policy should be based on the interests of all affected, us
as well as them. Until the point when a society is unsustainable for reasons of
racial tension or ecological damage, you're under an obligation to admit refugees.
Our interests in luxury don't outweigh refugees' interests in a decent standard of
life.

-- Chapter 10. There are some things that, once lost, no amount of money can
regain. We should protect the environment for the sake of its value to us. It does
not in itself have any interests, because it's not sentient.

-- Chapter 11. The rightness or wrongness of civil disobedience depends on

consequences.

-- Chapter 12. You can't rationally persuade a psychopath to act morally, unless
he/she happens to be the sort of person for whom living ethically is an important
part of living a meaningful life.