PY 1103, Moral Problems: Animals

Speceisim: the view that members of the species homo sapiens have greater moral status

than members of other species, simply because the former are members of our species.

Kant’s argument (echoed by Fox)

P1. The sole ground of moral status is rational autonomy. The essence of morality is

respect for rational autonomy.

P2. Animals lack rational autonomy.

Concl: They therefore have no moral status.

n.b. it follows from this argument that severely mentally retarded human beings have

no moral status either.

Responses:

1. Deny P2: Some animals (including chimpanzees) have rational autonomy and self-awareness.

2. Deny P1: Rational autonomy is not the sole ground of a being’s moral status.

Utilitarian argument:

P1. The ground of moral status is the capacity for welfare and suffering. The core of

morality is the moral importance of welfare and suffering.

P2. Animals are capable of welfare and suffering.

Concl: Animals therefore have moral status.

Singer: all animals have equal moral status. The principle of equal consideration of

interests: the interests of (non-human) animals and human beings count equally.

Eg: an equal quantity of pain matters just as much if it is felt by, say, a rabbit as by a

human being.

The principle of equal consideration of interests is compatible with the claim that the

lives of human beings matter more than the lives of other animals on the grounds that

human beings are capable of a richer degree of happiness (Frey’s argument).

Frey: there is a continuum up the animal species, according to which the greater the

capacity for welfare of different species, the more the live of members of those species matter.

Rearing animals for food:

1) Can current rearing practices, which are primarily designed for maximum meat yield,

be justified?

2) Is it wrong in itself to eat meat, even if animals have been reared in a way that is

tightly constrained by concern for their welfare?

Animal experimentation:

1) Can the current range of animal experiments be justified?

2) Can any animal experiments be justified?