Philosophy of Ethics: Exam 2 Flashcards
What does it mean to say that a creature has “moral status?
That the human or the animal is valuable IN ITSELF. we should treat in that way for its own sake.
DeGrazia explores a number of reasons why a person might DENY that animals deserve rights in the equal-consideration sense. Be able to explain any two of these reasons, and DeGrazia’s response to each.
1) Different Species: an inegalitarian might claim that animals are a different species than us and thus do not have right equal to ours. Degrazia’s response would be a question of why a species so similar to our own would not be able to have the same rights as humans.
2) Social Bond: we only have a duty to humans that we have a relationship with. DeGrazia says that not caring for animals due to lack of a social bond to them is dangerous and is the type of thinking that leads to other forms of discrimination (racism).
DeGrazia examines the question of whether painless death is harmful to an animal. Be able to explain the desire-based approach to answering this question, and the opportunities-based approach to answering it.
1) Desire-based approach: says that death only harms individuals to those who desire to stay alive. The animal must have a concept of what death and life is. For example, a spider does not.
2) Opportunities-based approach: means death is harmful because it closes off valuable future opportunities.
2 ways factory farming is harmful to animals and 2 ways that it is harmful to humans:
Animals:
1) All evidence of factory farming indicates that these animals experience considerable pain, discomfort, fear, anxiety etc.
2) Factory animals are ultimately only raised for meat, so death is undoubtedly a harm to them.
Humans:
1) Consuming animal products are associated with higher levels of heart disease, obesity, stroke and cancers.
2) Another is, especially in the US, factory farms are cruel to their employees, subjected to extreme work pressures and extreme health hazards like diseases and physical injuries.
DeGrazia argues that in order for it to be morally permissible to keep an animal as a pet or to keep it in a zoo, two conditions must be met. What are these conditions?
1) the animal’s physical and psychological needs need to be met
2) the animal should have a life at least as good as it would have in the wild
Be able to describe two pros and two cons to keeping animals in zoo.
Two Pros: consistent nourishment and veterinary care
Two Cons: The animals get bored, get little exercise. they never fully use their physical and mental capacities and neglect companionship and stimulation with other animals.
Singer defends an equal-consideration view of how we ought to treat animals; be able to explain what this view is.
The Principle of Equality (POE) says that everyone’s interests should be given equal consideration. The POE is not a description of an alleged actual equality among humans, because we all have different unequal traits amongst ourselves. It is only a prescription of how we should treat humans.
Be able to explain at least two ways in which could achieve replacement, and two ways in which we could achieve refinement, in our use of animals for research.
2 ways to achieve replacement:
1) In vitro methods are being used more, using human organs, tissues cells and even volunteers.
2) Computer modeling for simulating biological and chemical systems.
2 ways to achieve refinement of existing techniques:
1) Acclimating animals before performing the experiment
2) Reducing stress
Singer claims that, when it comes to deciding whether an animal has moral status, that creature’s intelligence shouldn’t matter. Why does he think this, and what does matter, according to him, when deciding who/what has moral status?
Singer believes that if a creature has interests, we should extend the POE to that creature and a creature has at least some interest if it can feel pain and/or suffer.
Singer believes that people who reject equal consideration for animals are likely to hold speciesist beliefs. What is speciesism, according to Singer?
An attitude or bias in favor of the interests of members of one’s own species and against those of members of other species
Be able to give at least two examples of speciesism in childhood, and two examples of speciesist language.
Children: Singing violent nursery rhymes, not knowing that mean are dead animals, being told to eat meat by their parents.
Speciescist language: ways that we compare humans to animals.
What is Singer’s response to the claim that “humans come first” when it comes to what we should be morally concerned about?
Its an indication of speciesism if we say so. if any one creature has interests, regardless of what kind of creature they are, they should be given equal consideration.
What is Singer’s response to the claim that “other animals kill,” so it is acceptable for us to kill also?
That other animals have no other choice than to kill for their food. They are not able to consider the alternatives or the rights and wrongs of killing another animal for food. They just do it because that’s their instinct and because they don’t have the ability to make moral choices like humans do.
If it turned out that we discovered that plants do suffer as much as animals do, Singer argues that it is still better to eat plants than to eat animals. Why?
Here, it would come down to inflicting pain or starving to death, and those, if carried out, would violate the POE . The inefficiency of meat production means that those who eat meat are responsible for the indirect destruction of at last ten times as many plants as are vegetarians.
Carruthers rejects the view that animals have rights, and in particular, he rejects Singer’s utilitarian approach. Carruthers argues that utilitarianism cannot achieve “reflective equilibrium,” and therefore is not an acceptable moral theory. What is “reflective equilibrium” (RE)? Be able to describe at least two ways in which utilitarianism fails to achieve RE, according to Carruthers.
RE: seeking a position of equilibrium between theory and ordinary judgement. An acceptable moral theory must start from common sense, and provide data that can be accounted for, as a moral belief can only be justified if it can be integrated into an acceptable moral theory.
1) Carruthers says that Utilitarianism is too demanding and that it is an unrealistic way to live life.
2) Says Utilitarianism cannot distinct obligation from saintliness.
