Before Midterm Flashcards
Moral Judgments
- have to be able to justify them, which requires consistency
- unlike a dislike or like which does not need justification
- has to apply in many similar instances
Utilitarian View
- concerned with maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain
- benefits and suffering have to be weighed against each other - i. e. the consequences need to be assessed
- aim to produce best outcome for largest number of sentient beings
Contractarian View
- only considers human interests: only humans can enter into contract and punish someone who breaks it
- mutual cooperation: treating others well means you will be treated well
Animal Rights View
- instrumentalizing animals is wrong
- they are sentient and have high-level cognitive abilities
- the right to life, liberty, and respect cannot be overridden by other benefits to humans
Contextual (Relational) Views
- the vulnerability and dependence of animals on us give us a responsibility towards them
- emotional bonds between humans and animals mean special commitments are made and give rise to obligations
- especially towards particular individual animals
- ethics of care: causing suffering is wrong because it demonstrates a lack of care
Respect for Nature View
- the natural form of animals is why they have rights
- protection of natural SPECIES, their genetic integrity and some natural processes are of moral significance
- animals are valued as tokens of their species
Science and Ethics in Animal Welfare
- SCIENCE cannot tell us what to do about animal welfare, it can however confirm if something is painful or not
- ETHICS deals with what is good and bad and what moral duties and obligations we may have - it dictates how we ought to behave
Underlying Reason for Studying Animal Welfare
- the assumption that animals have moral standing and that we have ethical duties towards them
Direct vs Indirect Duties
- DIRECT duties towards animals mean that animals have moral standing in their own right and are members of our moral community
- INDIRECT duties mean that animals do not have moral standing and are not members of our moral community
Pythagoras
- 5 BC
- believed in kinship between animals and humans
- opposed to killing and consumption of animals because he believed in reincarnation
- we have direct duties towards animals, animals are part of our moral community
Aristotle
- 300 BC
- wrote “History of the Animals” made a lot of accurate observations
- believed animals and humans share perception & emotion but only humans can speak and reason (logos), therefore animals must have been created for man
- we do NOT have duties towards animals, they exist for us to fulfill our needs
St. Thomas Aquinas
- 13th century
- God gave humans animals to use
- animals do not have immortal souls
- but if people become cruel towards animals, they may also mistreat humans
- we have INDIRECT moral duties towards animals to protect the human soul from cruelty
Rene Descartes
- 16th century
- introduced concept of animals as “automata” (machines) - they do not possess consciousness
- they can feel pain but not conscious of it (capable of emotion but not of thought or rationality
- humans have NO obligations towards animals, morally inoffensive to be cruel
Thomas Hobbes
- 16th century
- social contract theory = cooperation based on social contracts
- humans act out of self-interest, but animals have no language so they can’t cooperate or enter into contracts, therefore they have no inherent moral standing
- if an animal matters to a person, no one else may be cruel to it
- we have INDIRECT moral obligations if an animal belongs to/ matters to a human
John Locke
- 17th century
- developed Hobbes’ idea of social contracts
- animals have simple mental capacities but cannot form abstractions and therefore can’t understand contracts
- animals can suffer & it is wrong to harm them because it may harden the human soul towards other humans
- we have INDIRECT moral obligations because of the way cruelty can affect humans
Immanuel Kant
- 18th century
- morality is about following absolute rules (categorical imperatives)
- humans have intrinsic value but animals can be treated as a means to an end, they only have instrumental value
- if animals show human attributes then by not being cruel we show respect for human attributes
- we have INDIRECT moral duties towards animals - only when they act like humans (loyalty, friendship)
Summary of Philosophers until Kant
- humans have special attributes that make us distinct from animals (factual claim)
- and because of these attributes, we are of moral concern (moral claim)
Jeremy Bentham
- 18th century
- not the action matters, its consequences do
- good = happiness, evil = suffering
- if we should not discriminate against different humans then we should not discriminate against animals either
- for him main question: can animals suffer - no other abilities matter for moral consideration
- we have DIRECT moral duties towards animals since they can suffer
John Stuart Mill
- 19th century
- developed Utilitarianism from Bentham’s principles
- a good action causes greatest amount of happiness (greatest happiness principle)
- Yes, we have DIRECT moral duties towards animals because they can suffer
Peter Singer
- 20th century
- wrote “Animal Liberation”: promotes Utilitarian approach but opposes most animal use
- not opposed to killing but has to be after a good life and has to be painless
- Yes, we have DIRECT moral obligations towards animals
Tom Reagan
- 20th century
- wrote “The Case for Animal Rights” in opposition to Singer’s book
- argued animals are subjects of a life and therefore have inherent value and therefore have right to be respected and not harmed
- killing is harm by deprivation (of life)
- opposed to having pets and euthanasia
- Yes, we have DIRECT moral obligations towards animals
Teleological Theories
- based on goodness and badness - that is the results of actions (telos = result)
- ex. Utilitarianism
Deontological Theories
- based on rightness and wrongness, that is intrinsic properties of actions (deontos = obligation)
- ex. Animal Rights View
Who developed distinction between teleological and deontological theories?
- Bernard Rollin (teaches veterinary ethics)
Weakness of Utilitarianism
- justice may not be done, some harms are just unacceptable to most regardless of the benefits
Weakness of Animal Rights View
- the term harm is difficult to define
- concept of inherent value is also unclear
- unclear how to handle rights conflicts
- not clear what are obligations to wild animals are
Singer and Regan on Farm Animals
- they make different ethical claims but in the end they make very similar factual claims: farm animals suffer and therefore we should not use them
What are Welfarists?
- people who believe in limited rights for animals (unlike Regan who believed in full rights)
- they usually make the same ethical decisions as utilitarians
Animal Welfare vs Animal Rights
- veterinary medicine draws this dividing line
- animal rights are usually equated with radical abolitionism regarding animal use
- but one can also deny rights and still be abolitionist ( like Peter Singer)
Ethical Dilemmas in Animal Welfare
- disagreement over which practices reduce welfare
- how should animal welfare be defined
- how should animals be treated
The 3 elements of the Animal Welfare Debate
- Science = effects of humans on the animal from the animal’s perspective
- Ethics = the human actions towards the animal
- Law = result of science and ethics dictating how humans must treat animals
Free run cages for laying hens
no cages but also no access to outdoors but some may include covered verandas or wintergardens
Free range systems for laying hens
access to outdoor
- Dr David Wood-Gush was one of the first to introduce free range systems (Edinburgh Pig Park)
3 Criteria of Animal Welfare
1) Physical = ensure good health, condition, and functioning
2) Mental = minimize unpleasant affective states
3) Species- specific behavior or natural living = behavior that they are motivated to perform
Gestation stalls
= individual stalls that are used throughout pregnancy of a sow
Farrowing crate
= piglets and sow separated by bars, sow cannot turn around, only law down and stand up, sow may be physically healthy but not emotionally
Wood-Gush’s Family Pen System for Pig Production
(70ies)
- included manure, rooting, activity, and nesting area as well as individual sow feeding stalls
- different areas to fulfill different functions was very typical of Wood-Gush
Disadvantages of “Natural” Systems
- biogenic stressors such as cold and heat
- disease
- predators
but ideally animal is only exposed to things that they have adapted to deal with - all depends on length of the stressor
The 5 Freedoms
1) freedom from hunger and thirst
2) freedom from discomfort
3) freedom from pain, injury, and disease
4) freedom to express normal behavior
5) freedom from fear and distress
The 5 Provisions (Mellor)
1) Good nutrition
2) Good environment
3) Good health
4) Appropriate behavior
5) Positive mental experiences = choices are important according to Mellor
Quality of Life according to Wathes
1) Good welfare = a good life
2) Adequate welfare = a life worth living
3) Poor welfare = a life not worth living
Panksepp’s 7 basic/innate emotions
1) General & motivation SEEKING, expectancy
2) RAGE (affective attack)
3) FEAR
4) LUST (sexuality)
5) Nurturance, maternal CARE
6) Separation / Distress / PANIC (social bonding)
7) PLAY / Social joy and affection
Emotions
= multicomponent response tendencies that incorporate muscle tension, hormone release, facial expression and cognition, all unfolding over a short timespan
- usually begin with individual assessment of personal meaning
Sensory pleasure
= when a stimulus corrects an internal trouble, e. g. eating when hungry
- shares with emotions a pleasant subjective feeling but there is a stimulus
Mood
= typically free-floating or objectless and are more long-lasting than emotions
emotions have an object
Critical Anthropomorphism
- anthropomorphism = attribution of human characteristics and feelings to other animals
- critical: when science and other information is used in evaluating animal welfare - not just relying on anthropomorphism alone
Folk Psychology
= the kind of expertise that comes with spending a lot of time interacting with another species
Access Consciousness
= the kind of consciousness used in or available for use in direct conscious control (mental capacity needed for rational control, action, or speech)
- debated whether animals have it
Phenomenal Consciousness
= refers to qualitative, subjective, experimental or phenomenological aspects of conscious experience
- often used interchangeably with sentience
- how we understand other minds, i. e. what is it like to be someone else
Welfare Inputs
= measures of the environment and resources (resource-based measures)
Welfare Outputs
= behavior, physiology, clinical health, and production (measure of animal’s responses - outcome or animal based)
Tinbergen’s 4 Areas of Study for Behavior
1) Function
2) Causation
3) Ontogeny = study of how behavior developed in an individual
4) Evolution = how did ancestors behave
Inelastic Demand
= one that does not change with circumstances, needs that are essential for survival
- food, shelter, etc.
Elastic Demand
= activities or things you can forego if they are not convenient
Stereotypies
rhythmic, repetitive behaviors that may or may not serve a function, i.e. pacing in caged animal, tail biting, etc
Reflex Arc
1) stimulus
2) detection of stimulus by nerve cells
3) processing by neuron
4) muscle effector responds to stimulus
5) response
- learned reactions also follow this structure but are more complex
Allostasis
= psychological and physiological changes that occur in response to real or perceived threats to homeostasis (response by body to maintain homeostasis)
Glucocorticoids
= the main glucocorticoid involved in regulation of stress responses is species-dependent
- in humans, cats, dogs = cortisol
- in mice, rats, rabbits, birds = corticosterone
What happens when an animal is sick?
anorexia, adipsia, lethargy, anhedonia, hyperalgesia, social withdrawal, reduced grooming, increased slow-wave sleep, impaired learning/memory, decreased libido
- overall: sickness behaviour as an adaptive energy-saving strategy
3 Categories of Welfare Input
1) Management/ animal caretaker
2) Environment/ housing, food, etc.
3) Animal/genetic, early life experience
3 Animal Welfare Output Measures
1) Behavior
2) Physiology
3) Clinical health, production
Distress
negative stress like psychosocial or biogenic stress
Eustress
positive stress like play stress
3 Physiological Pathways in Stress Response
1) Neural Axes = stress response via neural innervation of target organs
2) Neuroendocrine Axis = fight-or-flight
3) Endocrine Axis = most chronic aspect, greater intensity to activate
Neural Axes of Stress Response
1) sympathetic NS = noradrenaline released, general arousal
2) parasympathetic NS = acetylcholine, general restoration
3) neuromuscular = skeletal muscle activation
Physiology of the Autonomic Nervous System
- sympathetic system - fight-or-flight responses
- parasympathetic system - rest and digest responses
- between the two: significant contribution to homeostasis
Main Glucocorticoid in Primates, Dogs, Cats, Horses, Pigs
Cortisol
Main Glucocorticoid in Rabbits, Mice, Rats, Birds
Corticosterone
Adrenal Hyperthrophy
- increased cell size without increased cell number
- due to prolonged activation of ANS and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
- major neuroendocrine system and therefore linked to stress
- organ pathology indicative of chronic welfare issues
Kidney Lesions
- abnormal growth in kidney
- due to either prolonged high bp or urine retentions
- organ pathology indicative of chronic welfare issues
Myocardial Lesions
- abnormal growth on heart
- due to prolonged activation of sympathetic NS
- could be linked to prolonged stress
- organ pathology indicative of chronic welfare issues
