Utilitarianism According To Peter Singer

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2. Ethical ideas
The utilitarian approach:
According to Peter Singer, like humans, many non-human animals are capable suffering; therefore, they should be given equal respect and consideration as humans. However, many non-human animals are not treated equally because non-human animals cannot hold rights that are given to humans, but this speciesism. Using speciesism to grant moral rights to animals is wrong and irrelevant. An action is only right if it prevents pain and speciesism fail to do that and violates the basic principle of equality. However, equality does not require equal rights rather it requires equal consideration. Equal consideration should depend on the nature of subjects rather than the species of subjects. In the utilitarian approach, any action is right if its consequences promote happiness or …show more content…

Animals are sentient beings and years of evidence is available to support this claim. The presence of sentience gives their life an inherent value. Utilitarian approach only considers consequence; however, consequences will have no value if the means to achieve those consequences were foul. We should not extend rights to non-animals by basing on their ability to do a certain task. We should extend the rights to non-human animals because they have inherent values, they have preferences, and they are capable of experiencing pain and pleasure; thus, they should be treated with the same respect as well. According to Regan, Non-human animals are not commodities, they animals are sentient beings like humans; therefore, when determining the moral status and granting rights we should be considering similarities among us rather than the differences. A total abolishment of animal use as a source of food, source of entertainment for research purposes and as companion

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