What is the value of life? Clearly we find the idea of financial value just a tad too cynical.
Do we have any other measures? Something we can use to establish that all lives are in fact equally valuable?
Also, as soon as we start claiming all life to be equally valuable we get into the moral issue of comparing somebody like Mother Theresa to someone like Ted Bundy and saying they were both equal in terms of value. I doubt many people would agree.
Why would you need to establish that at all? It is not a matter of fact, but a statement that serves as the basis of a moral standpoint. You can either choose to believe it, or not.
As for Ted Bundy vs. Mother Theresa - ignoring the extremely complex philosophical question of the value of life - do you seriously think that's what Ms. Gates was implying? A philanthropist working to save lives in the third world says "all lives are equal", and your response is, "why are you comparing Ted Bundy to Mother Theresa"? Don't take everything so literally. This isn't math class.
Because otherwise the phrase has no meaning? So I'm going to decide I both believe it and think it's completely wrong. Now what?
Moral standpoints with no meaning are really weird, I might as well say "Potato" and claim it's something deep and philosophical that everyone should rally behind to liberate Africa from whatever is ailing it.
For instance, by donating potatoes.
The thing is, what does a graph with unlabeled axes tell you? Nothing, right? It's the same with undefined moral standpoints.
Do we have any other measures? Something we can use to establish that all lives are in fact equally valuable?
Also, as soon as we start claiming all life to be equally valuable we get into the moral issue of comparing somebody like Mother Theresa to someone like Ted Bundy and saying they were both equal in terms of value. I doubt many people would agree.