A being's capacity for irreversible loss is the only thing that makes it a moral subject, not its intelligence or its ability to make choices.
April 24, 2026
Original Paper
Axiomatic Theory of Tragic Subjecthood (ATTS):Ontological Foundation of Moral Systems
SSRN · 6509904
The Takeaway
Human moral systems are built on the foundation of things that can be permanently taken away. We typically assume that being smart or having free will is what makes a being worthy of moral consideration. This theory argues that suffering permanent loss is the only true requirement for moral status. Without the possibility of losing something forever, the concepts of right and wrong lose all their meaning. This perspective changes how we might view the rights of animals, robots, or even future artificial intelligences.
From the abstract
This paper presents the (ATTS) as the ontological foundation of moral systems. Rather than proposing a new normative ethical theory, ATTS establishes the minimal structural conditions under which morality remains conceptually coherent. The central claim is that moral existence presupposes a subject capable of irreversible loss: where loss is impossible, the moral dimension cannot arise. The theory is built on a primitive minimisation principle. Five ontological primitives are introduced-Subject,