Difference Between Rational And Animals

Register to read the introduction… So the usual m ove is to find some other difference which is thought to significantly distinguish humans from animals. The most frequently cited and promising candidate: rationality or the sense of onese lf as a continu ing bein g. Hum ans, it is said , can rea son an d think; an imals (it is presumed) canno t. Moreover, this ability to reason becomes reflected in the human's ability to see herself as a continuing creature as a being which has a past and will have a future. Let us grant for a moment that humans are rational and animals aren't; that humans have a sense of themselves as contin ually exis ting bein gs and anima ls don't. Wh y shou ld that make any difference? Or more precisely, why should it make as much a difference as it does? Does th e fact that w e are ra tional legitimate our using non-rational animals just anyway we please? It seem s not. It certain ly doesn 't legitimate abusive treatment of other humans. Some human beings are severely retarded or are in irreversible com as, and thus are no m ore rational th an are the anim als. Yet we think it would be inap propria te to use these humans either to ascertain the effects of ammonia on the skin or to charbroil them for supper. We assume that doing so would violate their rights. So why shouldn't we be equally reluctant to use animals in these ways? (If you find the suggestion of using humans in these ways repulsive, ask you rself: why is it so easy to use an …show more content…
After all, most humans eat animals, and thereby gain nutrition from them; animal experimentation is a significant and vital part of our attempt to discover cures for devastating human disease and to protect humans from the introduction of possibly dangerous commercial products. Doubtless it sometim es ben efits humans to use a nimals in these w ays. But is it genu inely necessary? Not obviously. For example, though most humans do receive some valuab le nutrition by eating animals, there are more than adequate alternatives. One never need eat meat to be extremely healthy. In fact, vegetarian diets may be extrem ely ben eficial; those on vegetarian diets, for instance, have less incidence of certain forms of cancer. Hence, the primary reason people are carnivores rather than vegetarians is that they prefer (or think they prefer) the texture of meat over the alternatives.8 But sure ly having one's tas te buds excited in a certain way is not sufficient reason to inflict substantial pain on animals. To refer back to an earlier case: Jones may derive great pleasure from torturing stray animals, but that doesn't justify his torturing them. Certain ly too, many experiments on an imals are unnecessary. The experiment may be senseless, or continually duplicated. Many e xperiments are doubtle