1. Parts of this article's discussion of time-relative interests and abortion (but not of the harm of death across species) were presented as "Futures Like Ours, Time-Relative Interests, and Abortion," at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Boston, MA, December 30, 2004. I thank Jeff McMahan for feedback on a draft of the talk and Liz Harman for her commentary at the session. The talk developed several ideas sketched in "Identity, Killing, and the Boundaries of Our Existence,"Philosophy and Public Affairs31 (4) (2003): 413-42. David Boonin, Don Marquis, Bonnie Steinbock, Maggie Little, and an anonymous reviewer provided helpful comments on drafts of the present article.
2. This famous thought-experiment comes from Tom Regan,The Case for Animal Rights(Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1983) 324.
3. Here I assume that throwing someone into rough water where drowning is the predictable consequence counts as killing.
4. Animal Welfare and Animal Rights
5. See Mary Midgley,Animals and Why They Matter(Athens, GA: U of Georgia P, 1983).