Braylen Samuel

Priority monism is the view that the concrete cosmos is the sole substance. Recently, Martin Glazier has posed a problem for this view by arguing that the cosmos isn’t a substance as all substances are necessarily substances and the cosmos is not. In defense of priority monism, I argue that priority monists face the pressure of adopting a branching theory of modality called branching actualism to help resolve the issues raised by Glazier in a unified way. However, this could potentially demonstrate just how substantial the problem that priority monism faces is.

According to Hendricks Impairment Argument (IA), abortion is immoral because it impairs the fetus. Here, I argue it is not sufficient to show merely that abortion impairs, Hendricks must show that it harms the fetus. If the fetus is not numerically identical to the person it will become, then it isn't harmed by an abortion. But if the fetus is numerically identical to the person it will become, it is harmed by the deprivation of a future of value. However, taking this route ultimately undermines the novelty of the impairment argument.