sentience Flashcards
what is a sentient
one that has some ability: to evaluate the actions of others in relation to itself and third parties, to remember some of its own actions and their consequences, to assess risk, to have some feelings and to have some degree of awareness
what are some human opinions that have changed over time
- all humans vs. subsets
- companion animals
- animals similar to humans (chimpanzee)
- larger mammals
- warm-blooded animals
- all vertebrates
true/false: animals are capable of sophisticated learning
true
where is there little concern for animal welfare?
pests, those that can’t be eaten
how are animals more complex if they have to contend with a varied environment?
• Have elaborate motivational system
• Allows them to think about impacts of their
environment
• Make appropriate decisions
what animal are more complex in functioning?
animals that live socially
true/false: demands on cognitive ability are greater in small groups than large social group
false, large
what makes an animal sentient
level of brain functioning that makes some degree of awareness possible
Do humans have ethical duties to animals?
Yes, otherwise why would we study animal welfare
Do animals have moral standing?
Animals can suffer
“the question is no can they reason bo can they talk but rather can they suffer” whos quote?
Jeremy Bentham
define utilitarianism
The right act or policy is that which will result in the maximum utility or expected balance of satisfaction minus dissatisfaction in all the sentient beings affected
• Mill (1861)
what does utilitarianism imply
Implies that decisions are taken only on the basis of the average or overall good of collection of individuals
what is the best known approach to animal ethics?
utilitariansim
define consequentialism
Only consequences are important when making ethical decision
how does utilitarianism always aim at bringing about the best possible consequences?
Taking into account all of those affected by an ethical decision
what is the starting point of utilitarianism?
general benevolence
what is the most prominent form of utilitarianism and define it
Hedonistic Utilitarianism
• Defines the good as welfare
• Defines welfare in terms of subjective experiences, including both negative welfare and positive welfare
according to utilitarianism, when should be animals be included in our ethical decisions?
if they feel pain and pleasure
what is the significance of Peter Singer?
• Argues in favor of a radical attitude to the welfare of farm animals
- Boycott animal products and become vegetarians
• Not because he thinks it is in principle wrong to kill an animal but because consumption of meat/other products from commercially reared animals leads to animal suffering
• If a being can suffer, it has an interest in
avoiding suffering
• It’s interests should be treated equally to the similar interests of other beings
- Whether they are human or not
heatedism
bring pleasure and minimize pain
describe the modern intensive livestock production
- Animals in confined feeding operations suffer
* Some basic interests of these animals are set aside – efficient production and meat is cheap
describe consumers
accept much high costs of meat production to increase animal welfare
why does Singer believe that people in industrialized societies should not eat meat at all?
- Creates animal suffering, not outweighed by the human pleasure it generates
- Eating meat is inefficient use of resources, contributes to climate change
when does killing become problematic?
- It may cause suffering
* Animal can no longer have positive experiences
in principle, how can we raise livestock?
- Raise an animal for food
- Give it a happy life
- Kill it painlessly
- Breed another animal that would not otherwise have lived
speciesism
when humans see themselves as superior to other animals
define personhood
• Based on being a self-conscious individual with “future directed preferences”
- Want to go on living
true/false: Not all animals can be considered as “replaceable”
true
what are the categories of humans and sentients?
• Persons- biographical sense of self
• Near-persons- fairly significant cognitive abilities
- Great apes, some marine mammals, elephants
• Merely sentient
- chickens
describe the philosophies of animal rights
⚫ Never justified to sacrifice the interests of one individual to benefit another
⚫ Healthy animals do in a morally relevant sense have an interest in not being killed
⚫ Unethical to sacrifice the interests of the first animal for the sake of others
how does animal rights differ from utilitarian view
Not justified to conduct a harmful experiment on one individual only for the sake of the interests of the other
what do animal rights believe is our duty?
to protect the right of each individual animal not to be killed nor deprived of the means necessary to live a good life
“As for commercial animal agriculture, the rights view takes a similar abolitionist position. The fundamental moral wrong here is not that animals are kept in stressful close confinement or in isolation, or that their pain and suffering, their needs and preferences are ignored or discounted. All these are wrong of course, but they are not the fundamental wrong. They are symptoms and effects of the deeper, systematic wrong that allows these animals to be viewed and treated as lacking independent value, as resources for us-as, indeed, a renewable resource.” whos quote
Tom Regan
what is the species-integrity view?
Not only individuals that ought to be the focus of our moral concerns
• We ought also to promote the values of species
according to species-integrity view, why is extinction of a species something to be deplored?
not only because of its consequences for the welfare of humans and animals but as something that is in itself bad.
what are the duties of species integrity view
We have duties to species and not only to individual animals
what is the agent-centered view?
What is important about our treatment of animals is what it does to us as moral agents
what are our duties according to the agent-centered view?
We have duties to animals because otherwise we are more likely to act wrongfully to humans
Our duties toward animals are merely indirect duties toward humanity…If he is not to stifle his human feelings, he must practice kindness toward animals, for he who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealing with men.- whos quote?
Kant
which view claims “virtue ethics” should govern our treatment of animals?
agent-centered view
what do utilitarianism believe vs agent-centered regarding the use of rats in experiments vs. poisoning/trapping rats in pest control
Utilitarianism
• Allow both as long as care is taken to cause the animals as little suffering as possible
Agent-centered
• Forbid us to use animals in experiments for our own advantage (cruel), but when rats cause us inconvenience it is prudent to trap them
Use of rats in experiments vs. poisoning/trapping rats in pest control: animal rights view vs integrity of species view
Animal rights view
• Forbid both
Integrity of species view
• Allow both – rats are plentiful and their species is threatened by neither activity
