...Animal Rights Jeremy Bentham, author of the Principles of Morals and Legislation, said about animals, “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” (Ratcliffe 14). Determining what rights animals deserve to be given is a decision that has been fought over for decades. People are rising to defend and protect animals from certain treatment that has been declared unacceptable to human beings. People want to give them more rights to protect them from exploitation and abuse. Recently, a lot has changed in laws and the attitude of citizens in the United States towards animal rights due to the public being more conscious of the unfair and cruel actions inflicted on animals. To gain awareness on animal rights,...
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...In his article, “The Case Against Animal Rights”, Carl Cohen makes the explicit claim that humans do not have a moral or ethical responsibility to uphold the rights of animals due to their lack of “moral capability.” I intend to argue that humans, as the highest level of morally autonomous sentient beings, like Cohen recognizes in his article, do, in fact, possess both moral and ethical obligations to recognize animal rights and take appropriate action to ensure their wellbeing. I will make use of statistics and information that displays the imperative need for animal welfare, primarily in relation to modern day agricultural practices, as well as philosophical claims in support of the rights of animals, to counter Cohen’s argument. This is...
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...statement there needs to be a clarification on what speciesism is. Speciesism is described as the discrimination of an individual simply because they are of another species. This quote is taking the stand of discrimination against beings of a different species other than human is just as morally objectionable as all other discriminations, such as racism or sexism. This quote also claims that speciesism is deeply embedded in our society and only a radical change can uproot the long standing speciesism in our society. This...
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...Animal Equality: Effects of Giving Animals Rights PHI 103 Informal Logic June 2, 2014 Argument When it comes to animal equality it can be hard to imagine a dog, cat, or even a hamster of having equivalence. When I think of animals, I picture our pets, wild animals, and even those in which are consumed. The question of what is and what is not ethically appropriate in the treatment of animals has is debatable. Peter Singer’s provides a utilitarian arguments for why animals with a certain level of perceptive justify equal moral attention with humans. Introduction Singer calls for the establishment of a “liberation movement” comparable to those that remained emerging up throughout the dated in which he wrote his essay and attentive on such problems as gay, women’s and African-American rights. Noting how previously “legitimate” forms of judgment and prejudice, over time, correctly came to be observed as unfairly and immorally damaging towards definite classes of people, Singer argues that the time has come for a similar pledge to the rights of species that walk on four legs instead of two. The animal liberation movement, which was essentially begun by Singer’s book, Slate.com (2001) argues “It is ethically wrong to use animals in such a way that we cause them suffering, either by deprivation of essential components of a happy existence, or by causing them pain.” (Slate.com, 2001) The animal liberationists would like to disallow most medical experimentation using animal...
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...Animal testing has been around since the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE from the writings of the Greek. They are used for research to develop the understanding of science, to establish more solutions to medical problems, and mainly the protection of people, animals and the environment. Animals are important for research because it allows the scientist to learn more information about human biology and health. With the information gathered, scientist can then develop new medicines. Animal testing is vital to the continued development of human medicine. In addition, animal testing uses many different species for procedures for research about human biology, diseases and to determine how effective new medicinal products. This subject has always been a heated debate because of the use of animals for scientific research. Both sides of this debate have valid points in their argument. Some points are based on facts, whereas some might be based on opinion. Everyone has something different to say and have...
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...present opposing sides of the argument surrounding that topic. o Animal experimentation o Outsourcing o Media violence • Answer the following questions in paragraphs of approximately 100 words demonstrating your critical and creative thinking skills. 1. Identify if the topic you chose, as presented by both articles, is a problem or an issue and explain what makes it a problem or an issue. If you believe the articles present both problems and issues, identify and explain what the problems are and what the issues are. The problem is, in order to have medication which is safe for human consumption, it needs to be tested. When the testing needed is based on the use of animals, it becomes an issue because many individuals believe that the research is implacable, barbarous, expensive, and erroneous. It is also argued that it is not necessary and that more emphasis should be put on medical prevention. Supporters of animal research believe that we would not have the medical advances in treatment and medication that we do, were it not for the experiments done on animals and that it is key to preventing disease, . 2. Were the problems or issues expressed effectively? Describe how the problems or issues were or were not best expressed. I believe that both articles effectively expressed the reasons for and against animal experiments for medical purposes. Animal Experimentation Is Vital for Medical Research explains the role which animal research plays in the medical...
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...– Whistleblower, Product Safety vs. Animal Rights Whistleblower 70-85 * Whistleblowing is a new label generated by awareness of ethical conflicts encountered at work. They sound an alarm in the organization that threatens public interest * Whistleblowing has high stakes * Moral conflicts on several levels whether to speak out about abuses or risks or serious neglect * Things to consider? - ARGUMENTS * Is speaking out in fact in the public interest * Does speaking out, outweigh the his responsibilities against his colleagues and institution he works for * If 1 and 2 are valid, what about the fear ot the results * Can be threatened to undergo psychiatric fitness test, declared unfit, fired etc, marked as crazy * Like all dissent, whistleblowing makes public a disagreement with an authority or a majority view. * Dissent, breach of loyalty and accusation. Is there ways to find alternatives in-order not to breach these things? * You could be harming something bigger by being a whistle blower * Most important question, whether the existing avenues for change within the organization have been explored * Whistleblowing should be last alternative because of its destructive side affects, only chose when all other things are considered and rejected. * Does it infringe personal or private matters that we have no right to invade. Animal Rights – 135-164 * 200 million animals were used for scientific purposes ...
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...punishment, or even animal rights, this question is posed to create a line; on opposite sides of this line lay the differences between “persons” and “not persons.” However, it is not practical, nor is it possible to have one unified definition that defends or refutes any of these points. It is important to note that although this question can be answered for individual points, it is not a question that can be answered with the same boundaries for all points collectively. Although a case by case basis can be given, a unified answer lies in the fact that the all points can collectively be answered ethically. As defined by Mary Warren in her argument that abortion is an ethically acceptable action, a person is a being that fulfills five characteristics: consciousness, reasoning, motivation, capacity to communicate, and the concept of self (the ability to see oneself as an entity). She concedes that there are cases in which a person may be considered a person if that being has several of these characteristics, but also states that in these marginal cases, the greatest benefit to society is that personhood is defined to ethically condone the most moral actions. For example, in the case of a mentally retarded human being who most likely has consciousness, motivation, and communication skills, that person should be considered a person as this person has lived and has the capacity to do so. In the case of abortion, another marginal case, she argues that the right of the mother supersedes...
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...Should Animals testing be banned? English 112 02/19/2013 Should Animals testing be banned? Pharmaceutical industry has been able to do wonders in terms of expanding the life span of humans. This has been only possible by the careful and successful experimentation of different medicines on animals as they have rendered results for treatment needed for diseases among humans. Considering the experimentation for medicines on animals, it has been noted that an opposing party has debated whether the experimentation is unethical. There are a number of arguments which have been posed against and in defense of the animal testing. In the context of the debate, the position being disputed is that animal testing is beneficial for humans, despite being unethical, because it can help conduct different types of tests, and translate onto human lives. In order to present a justification to this position, following arguments have been posed by considering both sides of the picture: Animals are notably the best way to test medications as prior studies and empirical results have shown. With the aid of different animals including chimpanzees, baboons, ants, rats and other species of the animal kingdom, it has become possible for the scientists to find cures. These cures are not just limited to the transmissible diseases but also for influenzas and infections. It is of great interest that the heart of a baboon and other species of monkeys are rather similar to that of humans...
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...Animal Testing Introduction The application of animals to test a large number of products from household compounds and cosmetics to Pharmaceutical products has been considered to be a normal strategy for many years. Laboratory animals are generally used in three primary fields: biomedical research, product security evaluation and education. (Animal Experiments) It has been estimated that approximately, 20 million animals are being used for testing and are killed annually; about 15 million of them are used to test for medication and five million for other products. Reports have been generated to indicate that about 10 percent of these animals are not being administered with painkillers. The supporters of animal rights are pressurizing government agencies to inflict severe regulations on animal research. However, such emerging criticisms of painful experimentation on animals are coupled with an increasing concern over the cost it would have on the limitation of scientific progress. (Of Cures and Creatures Great and Small) Around the world, animals are utilized to test products ranging from shampoo to new cancer drugs. Each and every medication used by humans is first tested on the animals. Animals were also applied to develop anesthetics to ease human ailments and suffering during surgery. (Animal Experiments) Currently, questions have been raised about the ethics surround animal testing. As a result several regulations have been put in place to evaluate and control the...
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...English 1103 November 3, 2011 Analyzing Arguments: Is Vegan/Vegetarianism Diets Healthy? Eating is a necessary task humans undertake every day to survive and thrive. Food has become a huge part of society’s everyday culture and an essential aspect in our economy. As humans, we are capable of choosing the types of food we put in our bodies and these choices define in part what we look like and what we stand for. People choose whether they would like to be carnivores, vegetarians, vegans, or a combination. Author Ben Kim, a chiropractor and acupuncturist in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, states his thoughts on these choices in his article “A Strict Vegetarian Diet Is Unhealthy for Most People.” His article was written in 2010 to discourage people from adopting 100% vegan diets because in his opinion these diets are dangerous to the long term health of humans. Kim addresses his article to people who have adopted or are thinking of adopting 100% vegan lifestyles. He is trying to convince these groups that it is unhealthy long-term to limit yourself to a 100% plant-based diet. The main ideas Kim states in order to dissuade his audience from adopting vegan diets are that 100% vegan diets lead long term to the development of nutritional deficiencies and significant health problems, that the morality of vegan lifestyles are questionable, and that the organizations that promote vegan lifestyles have ulterior motives. While Kim makes a weak argument against 100% vegan diets, his assertion that...
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...Rhetoric in “Animal Rights” Every day, more and more people are becoming vegetarians, or at least are considering the idea. Why? One reason is animal rights. One woman, Marcia Clemmitt, wrote an article about this topic named “Animal Rights.” In this article, published in 2010 in the CQ Press, she argues that while society has come a long way with regulating the treatment of animals, there still remain issues with animal rights. Clemmitt constructed her reliability with reputable sources, citing conclusive facts and statistics, and effectively touching the readers’ pathos. In her article, Clemmitt starts by introducing the topic and touches her claim that animals need more rights. She cohesively transitions to the overview as well as provides...
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...Critical 500 Is it ethically acceptable for companies to kill and injure animals in the process of testing products? There tends to be three sides taken amongst this argument. Side one involves people that believe that an animal life does not compare to that of a human life and therefore it causes no problem to test any product we may have on animals if it benefits the consumer, side two which consists of the opposing argument to this, consists of the people who are against animal testing and believe that it is cruel and unjust and no matter the situation cannot be justified. Finally the third argument is the middle ground which embodies both points from the for and against argument of animal testing, they say that animal testing is cruel however sometimes it can be justified if the pros out way the cons such as in medical product development. Animal testing has and will always be a hotly debated topic one reason for this is because of the money it brings to the economy. “Animal research is a multibillion-dollar industry. Much money can be made by researchers and their institutions, those that supply animals and equipment for experiments, and companies that sell products tested on animals.”( Yarri, Donna, 2005) It is unlikely that the people involved in animal testing are going to want to use more costly methods of experimentation because of the “rights” of animals and therefore will argue the point that animal research is justified. Another point that may be argued by them is...
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...NONHUMAN ANIMALS ETHICALLY APPLIED TO CARL SAFINA’S DISCUSSION ON VARIOUS NONHUMAN ANIMALS In this paper, I intend to explain Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities theory for treating nonhuman animals ethically, then apply this theory to Carl Safina’s discussion of various nonhuman animals in his book Beyond Words, How Animals Think and Feel. Martha Nussbaum is an American Philosopher, who focused on philosophy in the field of moral theories. She is a distinguished Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Her interests include the ancient Greek, ethics, political philosophy, Roman philosophy, feminism and animal rights. Her works include various books either as an author or an editor. Carl Safina is a philosopher who explored the inner feelings of the animals in his book Beyond Words. This paper will apply Nussbaum's philosophy to the Carl Safina's discussion that demonstrates that animals have feelings, and describes their cognitive nature. Thus, they are aware of the mistreatment, only that they are powerless to resist the abuses. He elaborates the communication abilities of the elephants, whales, and other animals. We, human beings consider ourselves superior to the others, but by various measures, we are the most “frequently irrational, distortional, delusional, worried.” Many people who oppose the harsh treatment of animals cite Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities theory. His approach advocates for the better treatment of animals and recognition of their rights as cognitive...
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...The Arizona valley is home to thousands of species of animals, including the javelina (or Peccary), which is one of the most destructive species that has recently began to expand its environment to the streets of cities that border their natural habitat. The cities I’m talking about are Ahwatukee and Paradise Valley, whose citizens have seen an increasing occurrence of javelina encounters. There are several problems that these animals tend to cause in the aforementioned cities; Javelina’s are wild and destructive, they eat landscaping/plants that citizens pay so much to keep presentable, attack dogs and people, attract larger predators such as mountain lions and bobcats, and tend to travel in herds of two to twenty (AZGFD). This invasive species poses a great problem for the community of cities that border the untamed desert. This problem we face may not be regarded as rampant right now, but it would be best to implement a proper solution now so that problems they cause do not become an epidemic. Often, javelina attacks against people are due to lack of information on how to deal with the animal. People who are misinformed or uneducated about the situation tend to get close to the animal or try to feed it, and in most cases the animal will charge. Javelina’s eyesight is deemed as terrible, and sometimes they think that they are cornered when they are not. In this case they become aggressive to defend themselves or their herd. In addition to being misinformed, citizens of these...
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