Animals primarily use instinct to survive, people use reason.
“ Mans consciousness shares with animals the first two stages of its development; sensations and percetions; but it is the third state, conceptions that makes him a man.
”
-- Ayn Rand Animal grievances
Do animals have rights?Sure they do. The same principles that give us our rights, give animals their rights. They control their own bodies and nothing can change this.
Do animals have legal rights?Only the ones we give them in peoples courts. When Pig court/Cow court demands I come an answer for the heinous crimes of eating pork and beef then I will start worrying about infringing on their rights.
Isn't that contradictory?No, In the same way, that a rape victim must pursue the perpetrator in court, so must the pig pursue the violator of their rights. This is the distinction between
So why should animal rights be enforced in a people court?Why is it that the following should be a crime, but eating animals not.
The above crimes are not normally found in the animal kingdom, they are specific to people only. As an owner of an animal, you become its custodian, and therefore duties towards its welfare(like a child).
Most animals kill for sustenance only, this is a way of life for the animal kingdom, to prosecute any person for doing what is natural in the animal kingdom, you would have to punish all other animals in the kingdom for the same offence. That would not work.
Why do we not give animals rights?
Animals don't think
Animals are not really conscious
Animals were put on earth to serve human beings
Animals don't have souls
Animals don't behave morally
Animals are not members of the 'moral community'
Animals lack the capacity for free moral judgement
Animals don't think
St Thomas Aquinas taught that animals acted purely on instinct while human beings engaged in rational thought.
Animals don't have rights against other animals, rights are a human invention, to be applied to humans.
Why should we give animals rights?
This means that:
They have similar levels of biological complexity
They are conscious and aware that they exist
They know what is happening to them
They prefer some things and dislike others
They make conscious choices
They live in such a way as to give themselves the best quality of life
They plan their lives to some extent
The quality and length of their life matters to them
ReferenceSourcesLink24Ethics of Animal rights (much of content on this page comes from here)
(more can be taken from this page) Links |