The Moral Circle review: This look at animal consciousness is a moral workout

The Moral Circle
Jeff Sebo (W. W. Norton US: on sale; UK: March)

Should chimpanzees have rights? What about elephants? Or ants? Or microorganisms? And how about artificial intelligence?

These questions are at the heart of The Moral Circle: Who matters, what matters, and why, a crisply argued little book by philosopher Jeff Sebo. Based at New York University, Sebo has spent years arguing that consciousness is widespread in the animal kingdom and that we should extend our moral circle to encompass many more types…