Speciesism

Student Course Date Singer’s Principle of Equal Consideration of Interest In his seminal work, Animal Liberation, Peter Singer, puts forth the principle of equal consideration of interest in which he argues that for any being that possesses interests, those interests must be considered to be correspondingly morally significant with the identical interests of another being. Singer applies this principle to all sentient beings and uses sentience as the crucial characteristic for admissibility…

In Immanuel Kant’s “Duties toward Animals, Spirits, and inanimate objects” he makes his stance on animal rights very clear. He believes that we have no direct duties to animals, yet we have indirect duties towards them in order to benefit mankind. Though many philosophers agreed with his way of thinking, many modern day philosophers and scientists are able to find flaws in Kant’s arguments. Kants belief that “we have no duties to animals, plants, material objects, or the environment as a…

In this essay, I will argue that it is morally wrong to produce animals for food. I will do this by appealing to Leopold’s views on “the land”. First I will explain three views on animal rights by philosophers Tom Regan, Peter singer and Aldo Leopold. Tom Regan believes that each subject of life is an individual that cares about his or her life, therefore that life has inherent value. This inherent value is equal among all who have it, and one cannot have more inherent value than another. We…

Peter Singer in, Animal Rights: debate between Peter Singer & Richard Posner, makes clear his position that animals which feel, deserve the consideration of their well being by humans. This position echos his stance as an Utilitarian because the moral theory of Utilitarianism weighs the sum of happiness and least unhappiness in a holistic approach that reaches beyond mere inclusion of human beings. Singer therefore encourages us to include the animal kingdom in the conversation of maximum…

In the TedX video “Animal rights – birth of an activist,” Simone Reyes speaks on becoming an animal rights activist, and some of the things that led her to do so. She speaks on one of her first encounters with standing up for non-human animals, namely, two bats. A man was about to strike and kill an object in which she could not even make out, and in recounting that moment she states “I didn’t know what this little thing was, but it was pulsating, so that meant it must have had a pulse… which…

Peter Singer makes a substantial argument regarding animal ethics, and although the term ‘specicism’ has existed for some time, Singer really brings popular attention towards it. In order to make a firm decision on the plausibility of Singer’s argument, I will be looking closely at Shelley Kagan, who criticises Singer’s argument in itself, as well as an earlier writer who discussed animal ethics, namely, Immanuel Kant. By looking at critics of Singer’s ideas, we can then discuss which view is…

should kill them humanely, instead.” This opinion is the middle ground between “speciesism” (Cohen, speciesism, 485) and giving animals “inviolable rights” (Donaldson and Kymlicka, Zoopolis, 19). The questions then arise on whether this middle ground thought can provide enough meat for 7 billion people and reduce animal suffering? do the lives of other beings matter and what rights are these beings entitled to? Speciesism is the belief that one species, such as human beings, are greater than…

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…

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…

determining wether it is morally acceptable to experiment on animals, such views as Peter Singer’s speciesism, Rene Descartes’ Cartesian theory and Immanuel Kant’s Kantian ethics can be used to examine both sides of this question. Speciesism proposes that experimenters indicate a failure to give equal consideration to the interests of all beings, irrespective of species, concluding that in a speciesism view, experimenting on animals is not morally acceptable, the Cartesian view explains that…