Definition
A claim about moral worth says which of three it means (A12):
- Intrinsic moral value. The value a being has in itself, not as a means.
- Status-based dignity or respect. What is owed to a being because of the kind of being it is, whatever it does.
- Moral merit or praiseworthiness. The worth of a being’s conduct or character, earned and lost by what it does.
A12: “Someone’s conduct may be blameworthy without diminishing the basic respect they are owed. An organization may produce valuable outcomes without itself having the moral standing of a person. A non-agent may possess morally considerable interests without having intentions or moral responsibility.”
What it is not
A12’s exclusions: instrumental usefulness, organizational effectiveness, legality, virtue, moral patienthood and moral responsibility are not synonyms for moral worth. In particular an organizational achievement (TERM-086) is not worth in any of the three senses: A11 classed an effective coercive apparatus as one. Moral standing (TERM-083) is whether a being is owed consideration at all, which senses 1 and 2 may ground and sense 3 does not.