Analysis Of Speciesism And The Equality Of Animals, By Peter Singer

Decent Essays
In his essay, “Speciesism and the Equality of Animals,” Peter Singer argues that the standard for having a right to get equal consideration as others is the species’ “capacity for suffering and enjoyment” (205), and therefore, a species which satisfies the standard should be protected from speciesism. Speciesism is “a prejudice or attitude of bias toward the interests of members of one’s own species and against those of members of other species” (204). Singer states that many people’s voices arguing that intelligence cannot justify racism and sexism bring speciesism towards animals into

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Since they lack the ability to reason, they can’t have rights so they aren’t responsible. Does that make it acceptable to treats animals badly? Of course not; but animals can’t decide their fate so the humans must decide for them. In "An Animal's Place," Michael Pollan introduces Peter Singer's argument, which is both difficult, and simple to argue against. Based on equality, people realize they aren’t equal at all: "Some are smarter than others, more gifted, and better looking.”…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In order to understand Peter Singer's article "All Animals Are Equal", one has to look at his viewpoint and perspective. Singer is viable, which is somebody who trusts that best result is something that causes that most prominent measure of joy (or minimal measure of pain) for the best number of individuals. Nevertheless, in this definition the word individuals means just people. This is the point that Singer is attempting to contend. Is to state that animals do not feel agony or expertise happiness.…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Peter Singer, an animal liberator, argues that animals should have rights because they have the ability to experience suffering. One of the scenes shows how a baby elephant is finding it difficult to sleep at night: the elephant was having a nightmare of how his mum was killed, which had become a trauma for the elephant. This shows that elephants have the memory of everything that happens to them, which can sometimes lead to suffering.…

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frey entitled, “Moral Standing, the Value of Lives, and Speciesism” defends a view that he refers to as the unequal value thesis-the idea that human life is more valuable than animal life. In correlation with our past article, they both preach that humans are ultimately superior to animals when it comes down to the analytics. In regards to the title, some philosophers have claimed that this is a version of “species,” which refers to the view that being a member of the species Homo sapiens by itself makes human beings more important than other animals. Judging by Fresy’s work in this article, one of his goals is to show that humans can defend the unequal value thesis without relying on speciesist assumptions. Throughout this piece, Frey denies that species membership is by itself a morally important trait.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Norcross's Utilitarianism

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In a way, I feel that this can be used in relevance to racism because it is generalization based on a few creatures or people; therefore, favoritism of speciesism equals racism. Overall, both sides proposed great arguments, but under any circumstances, no one in the right mind will go to an extent of murdering a person over an animal. This is due to societal prioritization…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    She speaks about how if species were given the right to personhood, what characteristics would qualify them to that title? She touches on the idea that some humans don't fit the title of being a person such as people with extreme disabilities or babies and how this would make euthanasia acceptable. And how some species like dolphins are intelligent and have emotions and would be considered “speciesism” or “a form of wrongful discrimination” (Somerville). Somerville notes that if animals were granted personhood this would mean that the consumption of animals would be held to the same liability of the consumption of humans, whether it would be allowed or…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prolepsis Thesis

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Moving further, Pollen’s use of prolepsis makes his article more successful and persuasive. Pollen answers many objections that are anticipated from animal right activists, like Singer, which gives him credibility and a trustworthy personality from his audience. Such a notable moment is when Singer brings up the difference between severely retarded infants and chimpanzees. He notes: “If that scheme offends our sense of equality, then why is the fact that animals lack certain human characteristics any more just as a basis for discrimination?” (Pollan, 208).…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    One of the strongest arguments for our uses of non-human animals is the argument of need. Most people believe that we are justified in doing what it takes to in other to survive, in fact, most people even think it is okay to kill another human in the name of self defense. This argument does not justify using animals for non necessary things, such as, cosmetic testing, but eating is a necessity, so there is nothing wrong with eating animals. The problem is that we know humans can be perfectly healthy without eating animals. So yes you need to eat, but do not need to eat animals.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Psychologist Richard Ryder first coined the term speciesism in 1973. I use the word ‘speciesism’ to describe the widespread discrimination that is practised by man against other species … Speciesism is discrimination, and like all discrimination it overlooks or underestimates the similarities between the discriminator and those discriminated against. Discrimination of other races are not new to Humans. Africans, Females discriminations are dated since the dawn of civilizations.…

    • 133 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moreover, animals should be treated with the same moral respect as any other living thing. Moral equality is distinct from factual equality. Singer states, "Otherwise it would be nonsense to talk to the equality of human…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Speciesism. This is something the majority of humans do on a daily basis without realizing. According to the dictionary, speciesism can be defined as “discrimination in favor of one species, usually the human species, over another, especially in the exploitation or mistreatment of animals by humans.” Many people view animals as a food resource, entertainment and property; something they are not. Humans should treat animals with more respect and realize their value as individual sentient creatures.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the essay “An Argument for Animalism” by Eric T. Olson, he concludes that personal identity is psychological continuity. I will disagree with Olson’s ideas about personal identity in the brain-transplant and the thinking-animal argument. The main point of the paper is about animalism. Olson’s argument is that each one of us is numerically identical to a human animal. Olson says that a person could exist who is not numerically identical to any animal, but it’s not the case for you and I. Olson, then presents his ‘Thinking-Animal Argument’ and the alternatives to that.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Initially in “An Animal’s Place, Pollan cites supporters of animal rights to refute his initial argument that animals were inferior to humans. In that instance, Pollan cites a poll done by critically acclaimed John Zogby, American public opinion pollster, which “found that 5 percent of Americans believe that primates are entitled to the same rights as human children (par. 7).” This poll proved that a little over half of the American population saw that primates were equal to humans, which refutes Pollan initial argument. Continuing on the matter of whether or not animals were equal to humans, he employed a citation from an essay, “Why Look at Animals?” written by English critic John Berger where he stated, “Upon this paradox people built a relationship in which they felt they could both honor and eat animals without looking away. But that accommodation has pretty much broken down: nowadays, it seems, we either look away or become vegetarians (par. 10).”…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In All Animals Are Equal, the philosopher Peter Singer argues that we should extend the basic principle of equality to non-human animals. In order to justify this claim, the author examines the foundations of the basic principle of equality, establishing a moral system that takes into account the equal consideration of interests of living beings. Peter Singer states that in order for a being to have interests at all, one must take into account the capacity of suffering and enjoyment, or in other words, sentience. Throughout this chapter, Singer makes his readers see that if one rejects racism and sexism, one must also reject the idea of giving special consideration to the interests of one species over another one. In this essay, I will firstly reconstruct the arguments used by Singer to arrive at the conclusion that all animals are equal.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In their argument, Francis and Norman reject Singer’s principle, arguing that humans may give human interests greater consideration than comparable animal interest (Francis and Norman 507). Francis and Norman agree that animal interests deserve some consideration, but they argue that it is ethically correct for humans to give human interests more weight than similar animal interests. They base their argument on the premise that all and only creatures with the ability to form plans for the non-immediate future deserve equal consideration of their interests. This essay supports the stance adopted by Francis and Norman, contending that individuals only bear moral responsibilities to some animals more then others, they are ethically right in according more weight to human interests in comparison to those of animals.…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays