Animal Person

DECEMBER 14, 2009

In this morning's New York Times editorial " There Is No 'Humane' Execution ," we have an imperfect yet nevertheless baby step toward acknowledgment of the HumaneMyth. We went from an abolitionist angle--that executing people is morally wrong--to the death penalty needs to be repealed to eliminate problems during the execution.

District of Columbia 100

District of Columbia Humane Cows Morals 100

Animal Person

JULY 3, 2009

" Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals ," By Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, is the most recent (for me) book that debunks myths about the differences between human and nonhuman animals. Also, Bekoff and Pierce present a descriptive view, not a normative view of morality. There are no judgments.

Morals 100

Morals Mammals Elephants Ethics 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 5, 2009

The animals on farms are created for the sole purpose of human consumption. And their lives of exploitation, torment, torture and slaughter cannot be compared to an animal's life in the wild. Finally, people who object to our moral stance jump species and say we should object to the lion killing the gazelle.

Gazelles 100

Gazelles Slaughter Slaughtered Deer 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 16, 2011

Well, as it turns out neither a trip to a slaughterhouse nor killing an animal yourself is powerful enough to make people go vegan. The bottom line is that there are many reasons why human-animal interactions are so often inconsistent and paradoxical. He watched cockfighting and killed and skinned animals, but won’t eat veal.

Vegan 100

Vegan Morals Pit Bulls Advocacy 100

Animal Person

APRIL 1, 2010

Here are some of the my favorite quotes: In reality, species don't evolve toward greater humanness but toward greater adaptiveness in their ecological niche (105). No living group of nonhuman animals--no existing species of invertebrate, fish, amphibian, reptile, bird or nonhuman mammal--is ancestral to humans.

Speciesism 100

Speciesism Apes Advocacy Salamander 100

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 18, 2009

Being vegan because you want to live as nonviolently as possible and you don't want to contribute to violence and you don't want to respond to violence with violence is admirable to some, though refusing to support the defense of sentient nonhumans when you probably would if they were humans bothers me. Or vegan pumpkin pie.

Compassion 100

Compassion Tnr Psychology Vegan 100

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 2, 2011

I propose that the moral significance of the suffering, mutilation, and death of non-human animals rests on the following, which may be called the overflow principle: Act towards that which, while not itself a person, is closely associated with personhood in a way coherent with an attitude of respect for persons.

Morals 40

Morals Vegetarian Suffering Animal Suffering 40