article thumbnail

Review: The Moral Lives of Animals by Dale Peterson

10,000 Birds

With those caveats in mind, I took up Dale Peterson’s The Moral Lives of Animals with hope and not a little trepidation. After all, the behaviors we know as “morals&# do make it much easier to live in the groups we humans find ourselves in, and have been forced to adapt as the kinds of groups we live in change.

article thumbnail

Hal Herzog's "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat"

Animal Person

He is an unabashed speciesist, putting humans on “a different moral plane from that of other animals” (11) due to various reasons, such as our “vastly greater capacity for symbolic language, culture, and ethical judgment” (11). On page 172, when Herzog writes, “I am conflicted over many moral issues involving animals,” I respond, “No kidding!”

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

J. J. C. Smart on the Moral Elite

Animal Ethics

Let us think of the more moral members of society as a moral elite, much as the generality of scientists form a scientific elite. I hope I do not need to stress that such a moral elite must not be confused with a social or intellectual elite. I am myself not so heroic. I am myself not so heroic.

article thumbnail

On "Food Inc."

Animal Person

The moral of the story is that it's all about the way we farm animals, not that we farm them that is what needs changing. Then they yank the heads, slit the throats, and de-feather and gut the chickens. They grill the chickens, and trust me when I say it's all presented as a peak spiritual experience.

article thumbnail

On Food/Lifestyle Disputes At Home

Animal Person

While no study has documented how frequent these clashes have become, therapists agree that the green issue can quickly become poisonous because it is so morally charged. Does Planet Earth have the time for everyone to decide they're "ready" to give it a break?

article thumbnail

On Dolphins as a Gateway to Animal Rights

Animal Person

Dolphins are so smart that scientists think they should be treated as "non-human persons" and as such it is "morally unacceptable" to use or kill them. The entire discussion, I fear, will be about comparing dolphins to humans and the more human-like they are, the more intelligent they are, and the more worthy of moral consideration they are.

article thumbnail

Animal Rights is Pernicious Nonsense?

Animal Person

Latimer refers to his previous two posts where he has "documented the ethical and moral shallowness of the 'animal rights' credo itself, which is based more on an anti-human self hatred, taking the form of a 'moral' squeamishness concerned more with stamping out human 'cruelty,' no matter what the social or economic costs might be.