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Philosophical Perspectives on Animal Rights

The document discusses animal rights from a philosophical perspective. It argues that animals deserve rights because they are sentient beings that can feel emotions like pain and anger. However, it acknowledges that animal rights does not mean giving animals the same rights as humans, but rather ensuring equal consideration and deliberation of animals' moral welfare. It explores where to draw the line for which beings deserve rights based on their sentience and ability to feel pain. The document also examines countries with strong animal welfare laws, like Australia and New Zealand, as well as those considered worst for animal rights, such as Netherlands and Greece. It defines and discusses the use of animal experimentation in testing products like medicines and cosmetics, and potential alternatives.

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Bhai Kabir singh
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55 views3 pages

Philosophical Perspectives on Animal Rights

The document discusses animal rights from a philosophical perspective. It argues that animals deserve rights because they are sentient beings that can feel emotions like pain and anger. However, it acknowledges that animal rights does not mean giving animals the same rights as humans, but rather ensuring equal consideration and deliberation of animals' moral welfare. It explores where to draw the line for which beings deserve rights based on their sentience and ability to feel pain. The document also examines countries with strong animal welfare laws, like Australia and New Zealand, as well as those considered worst for animal rights, such as Netherlands and Greece. It defines and discusses the use of animal experimentation in testing products like medicines and cosmetics, and potential alternatives.

Uploaded by

Bhai Kabir singh
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Written By Agam Bhatia, Bhai Kabir Singh and Kabir Subbiah

Animal Rights -
● Ethics ○ Make a philosophical argument as to why animals

deserve rights
The argument for animal rights is that animals are sentient, as in
they feel emotions such as pain and anger and therefore they
should be given rights like every other human. Since animals are
sentient, only speciesism is preventing them from gaining rights.
Speciesism is then argued to be arbitrary as it is based on the
assumption that humans are the only species obligated to moral
consideration, making it no different from any other form of racism.
Despite this, animal rights don’t mean giving animals the same
rights as humans but giving them equal consideration (means
giving equal deliberation to the relevant moral welfare of
animals as well as humans.).This argument for animal rights
depends upon animals being sentient. If animals are not sentient
they do not deserve rights.

■ Under this philosophical viewpoint define what the bar for gaining
rights is and explain what this means
● Do chairs have
rights? No

● Does grass which emits “pain” pheromones when cut have


rights?
No, but they are to receive equal consideration when calculating
whether an action is ‘good’.

● Do insects which cannot feel pain have


rights? No

● Does a dog have the same rights as a human? If not where do


we draw the line?
No, but it is to receive equal consideration when calculating
whether an action is ‘good’ or justified.

● Explore any and all parallels that could be a relevant POI that
would make you question your theory of rights
○ Under your framework does an unborn foetus have
rights
Unborn foetus’ are not sentient and therefore don’t have
rights.
○ Do people in comas have
rights
yes, they are sentient
○ Etc
○ Make a philosophical argument as to why animals do not deserve
rights
Humans deserve rights not because they are sentient but because
they understand their moral responsibility in society. Humans can
comprehend the difference between right and wrong- they have an
awareness of moral ideas and this grants them rights over animals.

■ Very similar to the above


section
○ Current laws
■ 2 countries which are extremely pro-animal
rights
● Examples of laws which prove
this

1. Australia - Austrian Animal Welfare Act 2004


prohibits the suffering of animals, infliction of
unjustified pain, exposure to heavy fear, and
injury to animals with the exemption of some
hunting and fishing. The act bans the use of wild
animals in circuses and also prohibits fur
farming. In 2005, the country banned the use of
orangutans, chimpanzees, and gorillas for
experiments.

2. New Zealand- The rights of animals in New


Zealand are protected under the Animal Welfare
Act of 1999 and the Animal Welfare Strategy of
2013. The 1999 act states that animals are
sentient and this was also drafted into the 2013
legislation.

■ 2 countries which are a fair representation of the average countries view


on animal rights
● Examples
■ 2 countries which are the worst on animal
rights
● Examples
1. Netherlands- various acts of
cruelty have been reported.
Example; throwing baby
chicks into paper shredders.

2. Greece- known for


poisoning cats and dogs,
killing wolves, slaughtering
sea turtles and tying little
chicks in a plastic bag and
disposing of them.

● Animal Experimentation/
Testing
○ What is it?
Use of animals in
scientific research to
help scientists
understand diseases
that affect animals
and humans.
Scientists also use
animal experiments
to test new treatments
for human and animal
diseases,
○ What products are they primarily used to
test?
medicinal/ cosmetics
○ How beneficial is the use of animal
testing?
It allows for medicines to be tested before use but not
always accurate.
○ Are there any alternatives that we could reliably shift
to?
Cell culture, molecular and computation methods (in silico methods)
are now well-developed scientific tools which can be used as an
alternative.

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