Animal Ethics
MAY 30, 2008
Here is a New York Times editorial opinion about the removal of the gray wolf ( Canis lupus ) from the endangered-species list. The editorial board of the Times is intellectually dishonest, so please don't let this be your only source of information about the delisting. Here , for example, is a news release from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Here are questions and answers.
Animal Ethics
MAY 29, 2008
If we apply the criterion of duty, the question of whether animals have rights can be readily answered: we have merely to ask whether, in considering an action affecting an animal, we could assent to such an action after abstracting from numerical determination. In other words, we have to ask whether we would consent to be used as mere means by another being far superior to us in strength and intelligence.
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Animal Ethics
MAY 28, 2008
To the Editor: Re “ Biotech Company to Auction Chances to Clone a Dog ” (news article, May 21): Cloning animals to “replace” treasured companions is a boondoggle. These beloved animals’ personalities and charming quirks cannot be so easily reproduced. And when one considers that millions of dogs and cats are killed each year in shelters because there are no homes for them, cloning becomes unethical as well.
Animal Ethics
MAY 28, 2008
How many of you think this experiment is justified? If you think it's justified, would it be justified if the experimental subjects were orphaned children?
Animal Ethics
MAY 27, 2008
In the open square of the old Norman city of Falaise, in the year 1386, a vast and motley crowd had gathered to witness the execution of a criminal convicted of the crime of murder. Noblemen in armour, proud dames in velvet and feathers, priests in cassock and cowl, falconers with hawks upon their wrists, huntsmen with hounds in leash, aged men with their staves, withered hags with their baskets or reticules, children of all ages and even babes in arms were among the spectators.
Animal Ethics
MAY 25, 2008
One restriction on the absolutism of man's rule over Nature is now generally accepted: moral philosophers and public opinion agree that it is morally impermissible to be cruel to animals. And by this they mean not only that it is wrong to enjoy torturing animals—which few moralists would ever have wished explicitly to deny, however little emphasis they might have placed on cruelty to animals in their moral teaching—but that it is wrong to cause them to suffer unnecessarily.
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Animal Ethics
MAY 21, 2008
Of the many dense prejudices through which, as through a snow-drift, Vegetarianism has to plough its way before it can emerge into the field of free discussion, there is none perhaps more inveterate than the common appeal to "Nature." A typical instance of the remarkable misuse of logic which characterises such argument may be seen in the anecdote related by Benjamin Franklin, in his Autobiography , of the incident which induced him to return, after years of abstinence, to a flesh diet.
Animal Ethics
MAY 20, 2008
A few years ago, philosopher David Oderberg published an essay entitled " The Illusion of Animal Rights " in The Human Life Review. A few months ago, having belatedly discovered Oderberg's essay, I wrote a critique entitled " Oderberg on Animal Rights ," which I duly submitted to The Human Life Review for publication. The editor rejected it, which means Oderberg gets the last word as well as the first.
Animal Ethics
MAY 19, 2008
Al Gore will dismiss these scientists as ideologues. In doing so, he will prove that he is the ideologue. Ideology is imperviousness to countervailing evidence.
Animal Ethics
MAY 18, 2008
Levi Leipheimer is one of the world's top cyclists. Here he is with his rescued companion Bandit. Here is a story about Levi on the web page of Helping Animals. Here is an interview with Levi.
Animal Ethics
MAY 14, 2008
The question of whether animals possess rights is once again topical, largely as a result of the recent surge of interest in animal welfare and in the moral pros and cons of eating animals and using them in scientific research. If animals do have rights, then the case for eating and experimenting upon them, especially when other alternatives are available, is going to have to be that much stronger; and those who engage in and support these practices are going to be increasingly beleaguered.
Animal Ethics
MAY 11, 2008
To the Editor: Re “ On the Ground, Counting Deer ” (New Jersey and the Region, May 4) and the efforts of Essex County officials to justify the deer hunt in South Mountain Reservation: When I moved to New Jersey from New York City 13 years ago, I was enchanted to encounter deer in a forest two blocks from my house in South Orange (which abuts the reservation).
Animal Ethics
MAY 9, 2008
Keith, Here is a photo of a little guy we found across the street. It was chewing on the remains of a little bird that had fallen out of its nest. It was right on the curb and I was concerned about it getting run over. My son and I put it in a box and took it to a ditch area behind our house. Usually possums this small are with their mothers. This little guy appeared weak and the wound on its head is very apparent.
Animal Ethics
MAY 8, 2008
Keith, Here is an online ethics and animals class I developed for the Humane Society of the United States. Perhaps its content would be useful for your readers. Thanks Nathan Nobis , Ph.D.
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Animal Ethics
MAY 8, 2008
To the Editor: Re “ Another Horse-Racing Horror ” (editorial, May 6): Thank you for adding your voice to the many who are demanding that the welfare of racehorses should come before profits. But let us also give thought to the thousands of horses that are bred every year for racing and don’t make the cut or outlive their usefulness to the investors and owners.
Animal Ethics
MAY 7, 2008
Seven months after R. G. Frey's essay was published, philosophers Dale Jamieson and Tom Regan replied to it. ( Dale Jamieson and Tom Regan , "Animal Rights: A Reply to Frey," Analysis 38 [January 1978]: 32-6.) They make the following points: 1. Nobody makes the argument Frey criticizes. It is certainly not an "important argument," as Frey claims. 2.
Animal Ethics
MAY 6, 2008
Here is a common argument in favor of animal rights: 1. If babies have rights, then animals have rights. 2. Babies have rights. Therefore, 3. Animals have rights. In 1977, philosopher R. G. Frey argued that at least one of the premises of this argument must be false, and hence that the argument is unsound. (R. G. Frey, "Animal Rights," Analysis 37 [June 1977]: 186-9.
Animal Ethics
MAY 4, 2008
The issue as to who or what may be a possessor of rights is not simply a matter of academic, conceptual interest. Obviously, important conclusions follow from any answer. If, for instance, it is determined that gravely mentally defective human beings and monsters born of human parents are not the kinds of beings who may possess rights, this bears on how we may treat them.
Animal Ethics
MAY 4, 2008
Here is an essay by Wesley J. Smith. There is no inconsistency in rejecting plant rights while accepting animal rights. If Smith thinks that plant rights and animal rights stand or fall together, then he is confused, for there is a morally relevant difference between plants and animals, namely, that only the latter are sentient. Addendum: Smith appears not to understand the animal-rights movement.
Animal Ethics
MAY 1, 2008
I almost feel guilty about not posting more often (and more substantively) on this blog, given its expanding readership. This past month, there were 5,208 visitors to the blog, which is an average of 173.6 per day. The previous records (set in March 2008) were 4,200 and 135.4. I have a number of posts about animals waiting in the wings, but I have been saving them for summer, when I have more time.
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