Animal Rights Flashcards
Moral Status
Eligible for moral concern or respect regardless of its relationship to others
Thomas Aquinas
Animals are not eligible for moral consideration, but we shouldn’t harm them cruelly because that could have human consequences
Rene Descartes
Animals are insensible mechanisms that can no more experience pain or pleasure than a clock
Immanuel Kant
Animals are not persons, so we have no moral duties and obligations to them
However, the way we treat animals reflects how we treat other people
And, spirits/immaterial beings are not available for moral consideration. They have negative duties
Speciesism
Discrimination against animals because of their species
Animal Rights
Moral status for animals that cannot be easily overridden
Anthropocentrism
Humans alone have moral status
Biocentrism
All living things have some degree of moral status
Singer’s point with speciesism/racism
People who refuse to see humans as moral equals are guilty of speciesism, a cousin of racism
Peter Singer: All Animals are Equal
Main point: we should consider the interests of animals as we do humans; if animal suffering is like human suffering, it deserves equal consideration
-we can assume animal suffering through empathy
-animals have an interest in avoiding pain
-therefore animals have rights
-speciesism appears in food, experiments, and cosmetic testing
-moral vegetarianism
-if we’re not willing to test on humans, why cruelly test on animals?
Singers Utilitarian Inspiration for Animal Rights
Jeremy Bentham
What country prohibits cage systems for chickens?
Switzerland
Types of “Cruel Animal Testing”
Draize Test: dripping concentrated amounts of cosmetics in animal/rabbit eyes
LD50: how much is a lethal dose in 50% of animals given the drug
Singer vs Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson: well fish eat other fish, so why should we not eat them? Natural Order
Singer: Natural does not equal right
Singer and Darwinism
Darwin proved that the “gulf between human and animal” is not so wide
Carl Cohen: The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research
-animals do not have rights because they do not have moral capacities, so medical research cannot violate them
-animals must withstand certain, if not more, testing for the greater good
-we should not cause undue suffering to animals though
Carl Cohen on Speciesism
Speciesism is an incorrect stance as it places moral standing between a dog and a human to equally
Singer is wrong to compare it to racism because racism is wholly invalid, whereas speciesism is not
Vaughns religious examples
-the book of Genesis in Judeo-Christianity makes a clear distinction between humans and animals
-some eastern religions categorize humans and animals similarly
The Amish treatment of animals
The Amish try to do humane with the raising/slaughtering of animals
Singers Views related to Animal Rights/Human Rights
-utilitarian
-famous proponent of animal rights
-believes in abortion up to age 2
-taught at Princeton
“Why don’t we quit acting like the world is different than we know that it is”
Singers Argument Type
-against speciesism
-vivisection debate
-moral vegetarianism (eating meat is an unnecessary luxury)
The Question of Animal Rights
Where do rights come from?
Thomas Jefferson’s Views on Animal Rights
-deist
-God gives rights, if humans grant rights they c an take them away
-if we give animals rights, we can take them away. Lack of god given rights
Tom Regan: The Case for Animal Rights
-a rights view
-nonhuman animals possess more than status, they have rights
-any being capable of of experiences has inherent moral worth
-dismisses utilitarianism, contractarianism, and Kant
-the rights view is anti-discriminatory
Mary Anne Warren: The Rights of the Nonhuman World
-some animals have some moral rights based on the moral rights argument structure
-but animal rights are less than human rights for 3 reasons:
- Death is a less severe misfortune
- Conscious anticipation
- Lack of moral authority
The Moral Rights Argument Structure
Entity=x
Moral right to = y
- X has a moral right to Y
- It would be morally wrong for any moral agent to intentionally deprive X of Y without good reason
- This is wrong because of the harm which it would do to the interests of X
Roger Scruton: The Moral Status of Animals
-animals have no rights, but we have duties and responsibilities to them
-they are pets, food, and wild creatures
-there is more to morality than just avoiding suffering
-to give animals rights is abuse (the Pillow Book dog)
The Pillow Book
A dog is punished in court for misbehaving; the problem with giving animals rights
Regan’s requirement for rights
Sentience
James Rachels: The Moral Argument for Vegetarianism
-animals suffer needlessly for our food
-such as veal calf’s; they are tortured in their pens, and then killed painfully
-would we ever stop their suffering for their good? We don’t now
Counter argument for Rachel’s
If eating meat is humane, then there is no reason for moral vegetarianism
R.G. Frey: Moral Vegetarianism and the Argument from Pain and Suffering
-animals do not have rights
-a religious vegetarian would not care of the humane animal treatment (Indian friend from Calcutta)
-this raises the question, if it’s humane, what about eating people?
Frey: moral vegetarianism comes from 3 points with their flaws
- The moral rights argument
- It is wrong to kill animals
- It is wrong to cause unnecessary pain and suffering
Frey’s counterarguments
-utilitarian
- If vegetarianism is to combat the pains of food animals, then it has no grounds if we develop ways to rear animals painlessly
-it may be claimed that we do not have painless production
-but
- That claim is false: not all farms are factories
- Not all farmer animals suffer like veal calves
- Eating meat is not the only option, we could research pain relievers, farming techniques, and eliminate painful processes
Temple Grandin
-researcher of humane ways for animals
-autism advocate
-inventor of animal tracks and treatments for their better life
Paul Taylor: Respect for Nature
-biocentrism
-life centered: prima facie duties to all living things
-living things have inherent worth
-animals have moral status, but not rights
-the doctrine of species impartiality
-a basis to start a solution to the animal moral problem by limiting humans for the greater good
Taylor’s Biocentrism Premises and Conclusion
-a teleological center of life
- Humans are members of Earth’s community
- All species are interdependent elements in the natural order
- Every individual is striving towards a good of its own
4.if the above is true, then there is no reason to say humans are above animals
Taylor’s examples of animals superior to humans
The speed of a cheetah
The eyes of an eagle
The flexibility of a monkey
Anthropocentric Religions
- Classic Greek humanism
- Cartesian dualism
- Judaism (concepts of the great chain of being)
- Christianity (^)
- Islam
David Schmidtz: Are All Species Equal?
Against Taylor
-we can respect nature, but not through species egalitarianism
-species egalitarianism is just as arbitrary as anthropocentrism (both beg the question)
-in praise of speciesism
-humans are superior because we can question
-based on the quality of species (how do we appreciate mosquitoes like we do pets or humans?)
-we cannot rank species
-it demeans us to destroy
Washoe the Chimp
A chimp at UNR is who could speak sign language, who may have moral standing, unlike a feral dog
Albert Schweitzer facts
-wrote “The Quest for Historical Jesus”
-German/English Theologist
-became a doctor/got a medical degree
-then went to Africa to offer medical services
Albert Schweitzer: Reverence for Life
-reverence for life is the basis for all ethics
-the will-to-live within me and without me
-resignation is how we enter ethics
-we must ask, is it necessary?
William Baxter: People or Penguins (The Case for Optimal Pollution)
-Kantian view
-humans are what ethics are about
-humans only have intrinsic value
-what we do for animals is really only out of human interests
-everything is a human trade off
Baxter’s Criteria for Judgments
- The spheres of freedom (every person should be free to do whatever so long as it does not interfere with other human interests
- Waste is a bad thing
- Humans are ends, not means
- Incentive and opportunity to improve a persons satisfactions should be preserved
Yuval Harari wrote
How did humans conquer the world? (How are we above other species?)
Robert Barton: The Great Cat Massacre
-France in the 17th century considered cats demonic
-a group of boys printed out stories, like a cat on trial
-the cat ends up convicted and sentenced to death
-if animals have rights, we ought to treat them like humans
