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Tom Regan “The Radical Egalitarian Case for Animal Rights” summary
Animal rights philosophy
The case of animal rights by tom regan essay
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Animals have rights. It may be to some degree because of the traditional belief that animals only have instrumental value. According to Tom Regan’s essay Case for Animal Rights, all animals have moral value. If animals can feel pain, they should have moral consideration. This is the utilitarian view, which focuses on the suffering and/or pleasure of beings as morally valuable. Animal cruelty has been an issue for many years, and it has only gotten worse through technological advances and meat industries. Most people can agree that animals are not just mechanisms without feelings (which is what Descartes believed) and being cruel to animals/unnecessarily causing them pain or misery is wrong. But, unfortunately, it is also commonly believed that animals do not have moral status because they lack souls, strong family bonds, language, humanness and personhood. Scientifically-speaking, they may lack a few of those things, but so do some humans. Who are we to say that other animals do not have their own means of language/communication, family bonds, souls, etc. that they should be deemed as being instrumental value to us? If that is the case, humans who lack these capabilities should not have moral consideration either but because they are human, they do. …show more content…
We are not entitled to demean other living beings just because they are not like us. This is speciesism, which is discrimination against nonhuman animals just because of their species. This is just like racism and sexism. Many humans are guilty of specieism because they do not give moral consideration to other animals, just like many humans are guilty of being racists and sexists towards their own species. Humans are the most judgmental species on this
Being able to think and reason should be a primary requirement for deserving dignity and respect. With no ability to think or reason how could an animal even understand that it is being treated differently than other animals. Fukuyama argues this point as well, “Human reason…is pervaded by emotions, and its functioning is in fact facilitated by the latter.” Clearly moral choice cannot exist with out reason but it can also be seen in other feelings such as pride, anger, and shame. Humans are conscious of their actions, in spite of acting on instinct as other animals do. Animals do not contemplate any deeper meaning of life or justify complex mathematical equations or even think about the question ‘why’; Humans, however, do think about those things. It is our conscious thought that sets us apart from any other animal in the world. Yes animals have perception and problem solving abilities, but unlike they are not able to understand complex knowledge based concepts, although they can solve problems within their normal parameters. Every animal on the planet should have the ability to solve problems but only to a certain extent, the extent of survival. When a situation becomes a matter of life or death animals must to be able to learn to live. Survival of the fittest has ultimately
Animal rights can defined as the idea that some, or all non-human animals are entitled to the possession of their own lives and that their most basic interests should be afforded the same consideration as similar interests of human beings. Animal rights can help protect the animals who experience research and testing that could be fatal towards them. The idea of animal rights protects too the use of dogs for fighting and baiting. Finally, animal rights affects the farms across america, limiting what animals can be slaughtered. The bottom line is, there is too much being done to these animals that most do not know about.
After reading “Do Animals Have Rights?” by Carl Cohen, the central argument of the article is that rights entail obligations. Cohen examines the syllogism that all trees are plants but does not follow the same that all plants are trees. Cohen explains the syllogism through the example of hosts in a restaurant. They have obligation to be cordial to their guests, but the guest has not the right to demand cordiality. Cohen explains using animals, for example his dog has no right to daily exercise and veterinary care, but he does have the obligation to provide those things for her. Cohen states that animals cannot be the bearers of rights because the concept of rights is essentially human; it is rooted in, and has force within, a human moral world. Humans must deal with rats-all too frequently in some parts of the world-and must be moral in their dealing with them; but a rat can no more be said to have rights than a table can be said to have ambition.
Perhaps how the moral community treats outside entities is important in what it says about the moral community. Is it the ultimate goal of the moral community to shape society into people with empathy for other creatures, no matter how much intellect they have? It is the goal to mold humanity into people who employ responsible long-term thinking and use their resources wisely? Mistreating animals for our own purposes and exploiting the environment to an irrecoverable degree may not be morally wrong, but I cannot imagine it is a good practice to cultivate in humans either. From a logical standpoint entities outside the moral community may not be entitled to rights, but for the good of the moral community, perhaps it is better if they should be treated as if they are.
In today’s day and age, humans find themselves as being higher up in the hierarchy for decent reason. This leads to the issue of whether human beings are worth more than animals and animal suffering. While humans possess the moral capacity to understand moral thought, an issue arises with this. Does animal suffering, if we choose to assume that as moral agents human beings are obligated to include animal suffering in our choices, such as Peter Singer speaks of in his essays on animal equality, become less important when used to progress science and perhaps human well-being? On the most basic thought processes, most people would say yes because humans are more important than animals.
The fact that humans can take the lives of animals depicts their lack of moral value in relation to humans. However, if moral value is tied to moral rights, how does one compare the moral rights of humans and animals and why do humans possess more moral rights than nonhuman species? The main reason why some may say that humans possess more moral rights than animals is because they are not self aware and lack cognitive capacities. In Empty Cages: Animal Rights and Vivisection, Tom Regan states that those who deny animals of their rights usually emphasize on the uniqueness of human beings by stating that, "...we understand our own mortality and make moral choices. Other animals do none of these things. That is why we have rights and they do not (p. 100)." However, in The Mental Powers of Man and the Lower Animals by Charles Darwin, he states that animals, or at least nonhuman mammals, share the same cognitive abilities as humans. For instance, nonhuman mammals are able to "learn from experience, remember the past, anticipate the future (p.102)." Additionally, nonhuman mammals are also capable of experiencing fear, jealousy, and sadness. With these cognitive abilities, nonhuman mammals should then be qualified to obtain moral rights, which are
Many countries around the world agree on two basic rights, the right to liberty and the right to ones own life. Outside of these most basic human and civil rights, what do we deserve, and do these rights apply to animals as well? Human rights worldwide need to be increased and an effort made to improve lives. We must also acknowledge that “just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures” (Dalai Lama). Animals are just as capable of suffering as we are, and an effort should be made to increase their rights. Governments around the world should establish special rights that ensure the advancement and end of suffering of all sentient creatures, both human and non-human. Everyone and everything should be given the same chance to flourish and live.
the same rights as humans do. Like us, animals can feel pain and fear, but also
This view, that humans are of special moral status, is constantly attempted to be rationalized in various ways. One such defense is that we are not morally wrong to prioritize our needs before the needs of nonhuman animals for “the members of any species may legitimately give their fellows more weight than they give members of other species (or at least more weight than a neutral view would grant them). Lions, too, if they were moral agents, could not then be criticized for putting other lions first” (Nozick, 79). This argument, that we naturally prefer our own kind, is based on the same fallacy used by racists while defending their intolerant beliefs and therefore should be shown to have no logical merit.
...f you are unlikely to treat a human being in a disrespectful and hurtful way, then why would you do the same to another breathing being, regardless of the type species it is.
The debate of whether animal rights are more important than human rights is one that people have argued mercilessly. Some people think all animals are equal. To understand this, humans must be considered animals. Humans are far more civilized than any animal, they have the power, along with understanding to control many types of sickness and disease. This understanding that humans have, keeps them at the top of the food chain.
Chimpanzees and other animals do have a moral status, thereby causing people to not needlessly abuse them and have support in such cases. However, the question lies in how much moral status they actually have. Most humans believe themselves to be superior or rather be conservative and protective of our own species; believe in ‘speciesism’. As described by Peter Singer, it is “prejudice or bias in favor of the interests of one’s own species… against those of members of [others’]” (BBC). Humans are believed to be more self-aware than other species, and have more autonomous in their purpose in life. This belief is believed to entitle humans as morally superior than other animals, but even then, it is biologically natural to prefer one’s own kind over others, treat them more favorably (BBC). Thereby leading to the argument that animals and even non-human primates cannot be considered as equals to humans, the consequentialist argument that the benefits for humans in biomedical research outweigh the harm done to animals
... concept. An animal cannot follow our rules of morality, “Perhaps most crucially, what other species can be held morally accontable” (Scully 44). As a race humans must be humane to those that cannot grasp the concept. Animals do not posess human rights but they posess the right to welfare and proper treatment by their handlers.
Most would not put animals in the same category as humans so giving them the same rights seems quite ridiculous; since humans are supposed to be seen as the alpha species. What is a more realistic term is to consider them our property, because we continue to use animal testing and think it is okay to harm these animals. In the end, animal testing and research is cruel and should be done away with. It is a proven fact that animals feel pain just like humans do. No animal deserves to have his or her life purpose be to give his or her life unknowingly for science. We must to put an end to this cruelty and torture because just like humans, animals are living beings. No matter how it is perceived, it is cruel and unusual punishment.
As the 'higher-functioning' life-forms on this planet, it is our duty to protect and conserve, not exploit and destroy. --Contrary to what many human beings believe, animals are not inferior or superior to humans. They have feelings, instincts, and basic reasoning skills, although not to the same extent