Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 24, 2012

Dear Professor Burgess-Jackson, I'm a great admirer of your animal ethics blog, which I've found to be an invaluable resource. I just wanted to share a link to Gary Francione's recent philosophy bites podcast.

Animal Ethics 40

Animal Ethics Ethics Animal 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

I'm a longtime proponent of animal rights, but this suit is ridiculous. Applying it to nonhuman animals is a stretch. Nonhuman animals can suffer. If nonhuman animals are to be granted legal rights, it will be through legislation or common-law adjudication, not constitutional adjudication.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights San Diego Animal 40

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 26, 2011

I support the goal of legal rights for nonhuman animals, but this approach is wrongheaded. Instead of using the 13th Amendment, the original understanding of which did not include animals, proponents should work for a constitutional amendment, or simply for national legislation. Take it to the people.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Legislation 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 2, 2012

Animals have made it to campus.

Animal 40

Animal 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 3, 2012

My friend Mylan Engel spoke at a conference on human use of animals. Here is a report.

Animal 40

Animal Humane 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 16, 2014

In this New York Times op-ed column , Frank Bruni predicts that our understanding of and concern for animals is only going to grow as scientific advances help us to understand the rich psychological and emotional lives of animals.

Animal 40

Animal Psychology New York Times Emotional 40

Animal Ethics

JULY 24, 2015

Forty years ago, the suggestion that nonhuman animals have moral rights—indeed, many of the same rights as human beings—would have been met with incredulous stares, if not outright ridicule. Fast forward to the present. Other results from this Gallup poll can be found here. Note from KBJ: This post is by Mylan Engel.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Morals 40

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 7, 2016

Moral philosophers, even those belonging to the Critical School [the followers of Kant and Fries], have often represented duties to animals as indirect duties to oneself or to other men. For instance, maltreatment of animals is forbidden on the ground that it encourages cruelty, that is, a disposition that obstructs fulfillment of duty.

Animal 45

Animal Ethics Cruelty Morals 45

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 1, 2010

As regards animals, the position is clear. If an animal has the relevant moral capacities, actually or potentially, then it can be a possessor of rights. It may for this reason be morally appropriate for us meanwhile to act towards the former animals as if they are possessors of rights.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Morals 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

The problem of the unjust use of farm animals is large, growing, historical, institutionalized, governmentally encouraged, and fundamentally unregulated at either the state or federal level. Farm animals are treated essentially as raw materials. Instead it aids industry boards that exist solely to sell animal products.

Farm Animal 40

Farm Animal Farmed Animals Farming Factory Farm 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 24, 2012

With regard to wild animals, the general policy recommended by the rights view is: let them be! Tom Regan , The Case for Animal Rights , updated with a new preface [Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2004], 361 [italics in original] [first edition published in 1983]) Too little is not enough. (

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Animal 2004 Endangered Species 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 12, 2012

That individuals can be harmed without knowing it has important implications for the proper assessment of the treatment of animals. Modern farms (so-called factory farms), for example, raise animals in unnatural conditions. Those animals who are raised intensively, then, let us assume, do not know what they're missing.

Factory Farm 40

Factory Farm Factory Farming Los Angeles Animal 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 10, 2012

Here is a New York Times blog post about companion animals.

Companion Animal 40

Companion Animal Animal New York Times New York 40

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2013

Nor is it true that the worth of an animal''s life, any more than of a man''s, can be measured simply by the amount of "agreeable sensation," a fallacy often put forward by those who cage animals in menageries, on the plea that they are there well tended and saved from the struggle for existence.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Morals 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 17, 2010

(..)

Animal 40

Animal 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 30, 2012

The legal rights of nonhuman animals might first be achieved in any of three ways. For example, the Treaty of Amsterdam that came into force on May 1, 1999, formally acknowledged that nonhuman animals are “sentient beings” and not merely goods or agricultural products. Wise , “ The Evolution of Animal Law Since 1950 ,” chap.

Rights 40

Rights For Animals Animal Legislation 40

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 25, 2016

Philosophers have shown that the standard reasons offered to exclude animals from the moral circle, and to justify not assessing our treatment of them by the same moral categories and machinery we use for assessing the treatment of humans, do not meet the test of moral relevance. 41 in A Companion to Bioethics , 2d ed.,

Morals 40

Morals Animal 2009 Humane 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 26, 2011

It is well written and interesting, and might even change your mind about the moral status of animals. The whole dimension of morality doesn’t apply to him, or scarcely applies to him.

Animal 40

Animal Morals 2009 Cats 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 5, 2011

[I]t is not quite clear whether we owe benevolence to men alone, or to other animals also. Intuitional moralists of repute have maintained this latter view: I think, however, that Common Sense is disposed to regard this as a hard-hearted paradox, and to hold with Bentham that the pain of animals is per se to be avoided.

Indianapolis 40

Indianapolis Animal Ethics 40

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

[T]here is another class of cases where the state is accorded the right to interfere with the individual when he is not interfering with any other person, namely, where cruelty to animals is involved. who cannot protect their interests. who cannot protect their interests.

Cruelty 40

Cruelty Legislation Animal Kangaroos 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Yesterday, the world lost its most powerful voice for animal rights, Tom Regan. No one has done more to explain what "animal rights" means and why animals have rights than Tom Regan. As Regan expressed so simply and straightforwardly, what animal rights advocates want is for "people to stop doing terrible things to animals."

Raleigh 75

Raleigh Animal Advocacy 2017 Animal Rights 75

Animal Ethics

JUNE 27, 2012

Unlike [John] Rawls, whose considered views on our duties regarding animals are unclear at best, [Immanuel] Kant provides us with an explicit statement of an indirect duty view. Moral agents are not nonrational, do not have "only a relative value," and are not things. Moral agents (rational beings) are ends in themselves. (

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Morals Animal 2004 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 19, 2016

"There is no longer dispute among serious scientists that humans aren’t the only animals who have the capacity to suffer physically and mentally. Elephants, great apes, orcas, dogs, cats, and many other animals can experience depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and compulsive disorders.

For Animals 40

For Animals Apes Animal Psychology 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 11, 2017

(..)

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 5, 2016

Good leftist that he is, Peter Singer doesn't let a crisis go to waste. Addendum: The argument seems to be as follows: It is inconsistent both (a) to eat meat and (b) to condemn (or mourn) the killing of Harambe; I condemn (or mourn) the killing of Harambe; therefore, I may no longer eat meat. Here are some objections: The first premise is false.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Meat Animal 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 19, 2013

Here is an essay by law professor Gary Francione.

Killing 40

Killing Animal Laws 40

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Tom Regan , The Case for Animal Rights , updated with a new preface [Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2004], 388 [first edition published in 1983]) There are also some things we cannot learn by using humans, if we respect their rights. The rights view merely requires moral consistency in this regard. (

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Science 2004 Animal 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 25, 2012

(..)

Friends Of Animals 40

Friends Of Animals Animal 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 6, 2009

Here is a crisp (but badly edited) essay by philosopher Nathan Nobis. I like Nathan's distinction between "Oh yeah?" and "So what!" as replies to an argument. Suppose you claim that proposition C follows, logically, from propositions P1 and P2. There are two mistakes you can be making. First, one or more of your premises may be false.

Humane 40

Humane Animal 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 11, 2013

Mylan Engel Jr and Kathie Jenni are the authors of this book. Mylan is a longtime contributor to this blog. We met in graduate school at the University of Arizona in 1983.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Arizona Animal 40

Animal Ethics

MAY 17, 2012

This interview may be of interest.

Animal 40

Animal 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

See here.

Animal 40

Animal 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 1, 2011

We have next to consider who the "all'' are, whose happiness is to be taken into account. Are we to extend our concern to all the beings capable of pleasure and pain whose feelings are affected by our conduct? or are we to confine our view to human happiness?

Indianapolis 40

Indianapolis Animal Ethics Adoptable 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 25, 2016

(..)

Animal 40

Animal 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 30, 2010

To the Editor: Re “ Animal Abuse as Clue to Additional Cruelties ” (news article, March 18): As someone who deals with dozens of cruelty-to-animals cases every week, I applaud states that are imposing stricter penalties on people who hurt animals and that are working to establish online registries of animal abusers.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Animal Abuse Ethical Treatment 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 20, 2014

To the Editor: Once again people associated with the animal rights group PETA ( letter , June 19) have tried to disparage the commitment circuses have for animal care and conservation. and Barnum & Bailey are dedicated to providing the very best of care for all our animals, especially the Asian elephant.

Ringling Bros 40

Ringling Bros New York Times New York United States 40

Animal Ethics

JULY 24, 2012

The initial attractiveness of utilitarianism as a moral theory on which to rest the call for the better treatment of animals was noted in an earlier context. Because animals are sentient (i.e., Because animals are sentient (i.e., To secure the philosophical foundation for animal rights requires abandoning utilitarianism. (

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Animal Rights Movement Factory Farm Factory Farming 40