Animals, Humans, and Morality Flashcards

Question

Ethical questions (9)

Answer 1

Animals are currently brutally used by humans Animals are not treated as though they have intrinsic value Is there a philosophical or theological justification for this? Is it better to domesticate or slaughter animals? We see in pets that animals have inner lives, that they can understand and be understood, that they have preferences and desires The food we use to feed the animals we slaughter could be used to solve world hunger What justifies abuse? e.g. Pigs are as emotionally intelligent as dogs and yet they are treated horrifically If this happened to one dog it would be in the news Why do we choose which animals have moral value? e.g. Pigeons having been domesticated by humans and were bred so they could not survive alone, but when the telephone was invented they were discarded

Answer 2

Often used to justify human exceptionalism Not the same as ‘human’ Refers to a being with a particular set of capacities which gives them legal and moral status Fits with the functional view of imago dei e.g. No newborns are humans

Answer 3

In 2014, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division unanimously ruled against granting legal personhood to Tommy the chimpanzee The court determined that chimpanzees, despite their cognitive abilities, cannot bear legal duties or societal responsibilities. Supporters argued that chimpanzees, with their advanced cognitive abilities, should be entitled to legal protections, while critics feared such decisions could blur the line between humans and animals, leading to complex legal and societal implications

Answer 4

The rational soul is that which makes us imago dei Animals only have value to Augustine if they can help us form a relationship with God (Augustine has a point that those who treat animals badly are likely to hurt humans)

Answer 5

Argued that humans have a rational soul and animals are ‘mere automatons’

Answer 6

You should not kick a dog but not because of anything to do with the dog, because it may harm your own ethical status

Answer 7

The MacDonald triad posits that animal cruelty, fire setting, and bed wetting in childhood is indicative of later aggressive and violent behaviour in adults)

Answer 8

Contemporary theologians tend to prefer stewardship Materiality is downgraded and desacralised Where did the soul come from and when?

Answer 9

When did this function emerge in our evolutionary history? Disembodied soul is hard to square with modern neuroscience and cognitive psychology - how can the transcendent impact the physical (materialism/epiphenominalism more common)

Answer 10

‘The question is not can they think but can they suffer’

Answer 11

Can we argue that an individual is only part of the moral landscape if that can or could partake in it? This still does not solve the issue of newborns and cognitively impaired individuals - we could argue that they belong to a kind Can only humans be moral? Could we have shared creaturehood? - We come from the same source so should treat each other with respect Could animals be rational?

Answer 12

Dutch-American primatologist and ethologist

Answer 13

Morality is biologically rooted – moral behaviour evolved from social animals' need for cooperation, empathy, and fairness, not just human reasoning (supported by W.D Hamilton) Morality is not just human religion or culture – Instead of being uniquely human, moral tendencies emerge from social behaviours seen across species

Answer 14

Empathy in animals – Many species, especially primates, show emotional contagion, consolation, and perspective-taking, indicating a foundation for moral concern

Answer 15

Fairness and reciprocity – Animals, like chimpanzees and capuchins, react negatively to unfair treatment, suggesting a sense of justice and fairness E.g. the experiment where they gave one monkey a lesser food as a reward for a task and it accepted it until he saw another monkey get a more valued reward for the same task

Answer 16

Conflict resolution – Many animals engage in reconciliation after fights, showing that peacemaking and maintaining social bonds are key to group survival (vs court case, arguably better than many people)

Answer 17

Developed mathematical models to demonstrate how genes promoting altruism can proliferate in a population under certain conditions This model can be written as r⋅B>C, in which r is the coefficient of relatedness (or, the proportion of genes shared), B is the benefit gained by the recipient and C is the cost incurred by the actor. If the benefit to the recipient multiplied by the coefficient of relatedness (r⋅B) is greater than the cost to the actor (C), it would be favoured by natural selection

Answer 18

We are inherently selfish and have the right to be Developed the concept of a meme ‘Let us try to teach generosity and altruism because we ourselves are selfish’ ‘Something that no other species has ever aspired to do’ Frames morality as a distinct human invention

Answer 19

Many animals do have rationality, just a different type Animals are different and unique, demonstrating goals and preferences, and these ends have moral value Not all people agree on what is right, so the fact that animals do not align with human ethics does not mean they are unethical. This is an appeal to ignorance — assuming that because animals do not follow human ethical frameworks, they lack ethics altogether.

Answer 20

James Rachels on Inuit groups Herodotus on the Calliatae and the Greeks

Answer 21

Speciesism is like racism or sexism The only thing that matters is if a being has the ability to suffer All beings capable of suffering deserve moral consideration, regardless of species, since pain and pleasure matter equally for all sentient creatures