Transcript Animal Rights

"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to
be indifferent to them. That's the essence of inhumanity"
George Bernard Shaw
What does "Animal Rights" mean?
–plural noun
the rights of animals, claimed on ethical
grounds, to the same humane treatment
and protection from exploitation and abuse
that are accorded to humans.
HOWEVER
“It is not the animals who are demanding rights,
but the humans who are conferring rights upon
the animals. This argument is not about the
rights of animals but about the duties of human
beings.”
http://susanrosenthal.com/articles/animal-rights-or-human-responsibilities
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is a philosophical view that animals have rights
similar or the same as humans. True animal
rights proponents believe that humans do not
have the right to use animals at all. Animal
rights proponents wish to ban all use of animals
by humans.
Animal Welfare is a
human responsibility
that encompasses all
aspects of animal
well-being, including
proper housing,
management,
disease prevention
and treatment,
responsible care,
humane handling,
and, when
necessary, humane
euthansia.
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Animal welfare proponents seek to improve the
treatment and well-being of animals.
Animal welfare proponents believe that humans
can interact with animals in entertainment, industry,
sport and recreation, and industry, but that the
interaction should include provisions for the proper
care and management for all animals involved.
Animal welfare proponents support self-regulation
of animal sports, including rodeo, polo, three-day
eventing, FFA competitions, horse racing, field trials
and endurance riding.
Animal welfare groups
utilize scientific evidence
to base animal care and
handling guidelines.
Discrimination against animals is “speciesism”,
analogous to racism
To discriminate on the basis of species membership,
or even on the basis of intelligence or rationality,
is like discriminating on the basis of skin color
What matters is sentience. Any animal that is
sentient (can feel pleasure or pain) counts as a
moral subject.
All pleasure or pain, or
preferences, should count
equally, whether they are
the pleasures of
preferences of humans or
animals
The Value
of Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3Y3qcdWkto&feature=pl
ayer_embedded&has_verified=1
Discussion point:
Are human and animal lives of equal value?
Something to ponder as you read
the next few slides.
Do animal rights vary for different types of
animals?
Can or should all animals have equal
rights?
How are animals viewed in Industry?
For thousands of years people have killed
animals for their fur.
Fashion
Discoveries in technology have led to the
development of synthetic fibres, increased
production in other natural fibres which do
not require the killing of animals.
How does this change our understanding
of animal rights?
Do we still need to kill animals for their fur?
Should we?
Medical / Scientific Research
The use of animals for medical research has led to
the development of numerous vacinations and cures
for deseases which have killed millions of people.
But at what cost? How should vaccines be tested
and developed?
If animal testing didn't take place then people
would still be dying from these diseases today.
How are animals viewed in Industry?
Farming of animals
In the last 30 years, our society has experienced a food
revolution, which has transformed the lives of more than
half a billion Australian farm animals who comprise the
meat, milk and egg producing machines annually called on
to satisfy our national appetite.
The interests of farm animals have been
largely disregarded in this relentless
pursuit for profit. Most animals in
factory farms live a life of confinement.
Does animal rights include the protection of animal habitats?
Many natural habitats for animals are being lost through deforestation.
Deforestation is the clearing of forests by logging and/or burning and occurs
in many countries around the world for many reasons.
Forests are cleared for many different reasons including, trees or derived
charcoal being used as or sold for fuel, pasture for livestock, growing crops
and expansion of communities who require more housing. This provides an
income for many families.
The removal of trees and destruction of these habitats
has resulted in much devastation including biodiversity
loss, aridity and the extinction of many species of
animals.
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Animal used for vaccines, treatments, of
human diseases, e.g. polio, malaria
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But this research would not be allowed if
animals had rights
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Rights entail duties
Rights trump interests
 absolutely
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Do individuals have a role to play in defining /
shaping the treatment of animals?
Consumer Choices
As consumers we are now
becoming informed with regard to
how animals are treated before
being sold to us as consumer
products.
Consumer buying power
can make a difference. 20 years
ago consumers bought eggs without
much consideration for where they came
from.
Today we expect to be informed with
regard to where our eggs come from so
that we can choose between free range
and cage eggs.
Consumer demands for these
products is on the rise.
Is it elitism or genuine concern for
animal rights?
What obligation if any do we have to buy
We have the
products which support the ethical and
choice to buy
humane treatment of animals?
tuna which is
harvested
Should financial cost play a
without
role in our decision making?
needlessly
killing dolphins.
Do individuals have a role to play in defining /
shaping the treatment of animals?
Domestic Pets
Domestication is a process whereby man has structurally, physiologically and
behaviourally modified certain species of animals by maintaining them in or
near human habitation and by breeding from those certain animals who seem
best suited for various human objectives.
As life becomes busier what
does this mean for our pets?
What obligation do we
have to them?
OR
Home alone for over
12 hours a day?
Is this taking animal
rights too far?
Conservationist/Activist
Many groups of conservationists and activists have taken up the cause
of defending the animal rights. Some of the best known include:
Green Peace: Probably
the best known
organisation around the
globe for defending the
rights of animals
that started in 1971
WWF-World Wide Fund
For Nature: Protecting
the wildlife around the
globe and saving animals
from extinction
RSPCA - Royal Society
for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals:
Organisation that
safeguards the way in
which people treat animals
in captivity.
PETA - People for the
Ethical Treatment of
Animals: American
organisation that
supports the universal
declaration of animal
rights (1972)
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Direct duties: duties owed to the animals
themselves (treating animals welfare as
an intrinsic good)
Indirect duties: duties to act in certain
ways towards animals for the sake of
ourselves, others or society (treating
animal welfare as an instrumental good)
Examples of indirect duties
towards animals:
•
Duty to respect private property (animals that belong to
someone)
•
Duty to avoid cruelty because it encourages a cruel nature
in us, which might then be expressed towards other people
•
Duty not to hurt the feelings of people who love animals by
abusing animals
•
Duty to maintain the health of biosystems
and nature in general, for our own good
•
Duty to preserve beautiful creatures, for the
enjoyment of others and future generations
•
Duty to preserve species that may be
sources of other instrumental goods,
e.g. medicine
Animal welfare as an intrinsic good
Kantian and utilitarian ethics traditionally extended to all
people, but only people
Kant: all rational beings are ends in themselves
assumption: only humans are rational (or maybe humans,
angels and extraterrestrials)
Utilitarianism: the pleasures and pains of all conscious beings
are of equal importance
assumption (?): only humans are conscious/have pleasure
and pain
But note: Jeremy Bentham, early utilitarian (pre-Mill):
“The question is not, Can they reason?, nor Can they talk?
but, Can they suffer?” (Bentham 1789)
Borderline cases: babies, the severely mentally
retarded, psychopaths
Argument from analogy: borderline cases are similar to (some)
animals (in terms of abilities, sentience, capacity for
pleasure and pain), so animals should be treated similarly
We routinely grant importance to the interests to human
borderline cases – not full rights (e.g. the right to vote), but
the right to have their preferences treated as morally
important and the right not to be mistreated
Animals are not equal to normal adults, and therefore cannot
have truly equal rights, but their preferences (e.g. the desire
to avoid pain) should be given equal consideration
We don’t discriminate between people on the
basis of intelligence or ability. So we should not
discriminate against animals because they are
less intelligent or lack certain abilities.
We treat babies and the severely brain
damaged better than we treat animals, but
we shouldn’t. Animals have just as much right
to consideration as babies (or more!) E.g. an
adult ape is more aware, more self-directing
and has at least as much capacity for suffering
as a baby.
Distinguishes “moral agents” from “moral patients”
Moral agents typified by competent human adults
Moral patients include everything that has interests,
e.g. babies, the mentally incompetent and animals.
Both moral agents and moral patients have moral
standing, i.e. are ends of themselves and are subject
to rights
What has interests?
Subjects-of-a-life.
“To be the subject-of-a-life … involves more than merely being
alive and more than merely being conscious. To be the
subject-of-a-life is to … have beliefs and desires;
perception, memory, and a sense of the future, including
their own future; an emotional life together with feelings of
pleasure and pain; preference and welfare-interests; a
psychophysical identity over time; and an individual
welfare in the sense that their experiential life fares well or ill
for them, independent of their utility for others.”
Not all animals, but only animals that meet these criteria.
Typically “mentally normal mammals of a year or
more”, although potentially other animals with
the relevant cognitive capacity.