Questions tagged [animal-welfare]

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Should animals be ethically considered?

I've heard lots of people say that animals just shouldn't be considered ethically, and so actions against them that they would consider morally wrong to do to humans don't matter. This doesn't make ...
edelex's user avatar
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Resource request for philosophical arguments regarding the ethics of killing animals

If we consider the animals have a right to live, then killing them for consumption should be considered a violation of their rights. On the other hand, if we don't consider that animals have a right ...
Amir reza Riahi's user avatar
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How do people against speciesism see production chains?

Sorry in advance if this type of question isn't permitted here. This is a genuinely curious question, not teasing anyone. And I know, the following text is pretty messy, but so are my thoughts about ...
Jp_'s user avatar
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18 votes
11 answers
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Does the focus on "humane" killing of animals distract from the real moral problem of killing?

"Humane" in respect to killing animals means to minimize the animal's pain as they die. But this seems to completely sidestep the moral issue with killing, which has nothing to do with the ...
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What is the meat paradox?

On the psychology of eating meat and the meat paradox: One question examined in the psychology of eating meat has been termed the meat paradox: how can individuals care about animals, but also eat ...
Agent Smith's user avatar
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What support exists towards that humane killing of "prey animals" could be more ethical than refraining from it?

What support exists towards that humane killing of "prey animals" could be more ethical than refraining from it? This view on "veganism" has interested me a lot lately, because ...
mavavilj's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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The 'Strongest Argument for Veganism': Speciesism, ethics and necessity

The Effective Altruism Foundation provides the following as the 'Strongest Argument for Veganism'. (1) We shouldn’t be cruel to animals, i.e. we shouldn’t harm animals unnecessarily. (2) The ...
Futilitarian's user avatar
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Animal commodification

Is it morally or ethically justified to commodify animals (i.e., such as the tiger temple when it was a thing)? Should humans treat animals' ends (telos) with as much respect as we do ourselves? ...
Sam F's user avatar
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3 answers
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Is the killing of animals justified because of humans being at the top of the evolution/food chain?

I recently argued with a friend about veganism. My position was basically that everyone who can allow a dietery change in their lives ought to be vegan. I argued that these days there are sufficient ...
SDZ's user avatar
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1 answer
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For Kant, are we obligated to treat people who have no ability to reason or to give decisions or consents as always an end and not merely as means?

For Kant, are we obligated to treat people who have no ability to reason or to give decisions or consents (concerning with mental insanity) as always an end and not merely as means? If we are, why is ...
Jordan G's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
347 views

Is there any substantial philosophical rebuttal to the claims about veganism made by Peter Singer?

There is an ongoing debate around the morality of food habits. About this debate, I have only heard one side - the side of the moral vegans. Bentham, Singer and others propose a veganism based on ...
fogof mylife's user avatar
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1 answer
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Non-robotic animal behaviors?

Can anyone point me to written arguments which point out any documented behavior of any animal which is incompatible with an animals-as-robots model? The model I mean claims animals lack the general ...
curi's user avatar
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1 answer
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Morality, Animal Cruelty, and Non-Vegetarianism

This is a very common question, but I've always been torn about how I can give a rational moral justification for being a non-vegetarian. Is it not hypocritical for me to condemn other acts of animal ...
gtoques's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
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The needs of many (in 'ok' circumstances) vs. the needs of few (in 'extreme' circumstances)

I am writing about decision making when allocating charity resources, and I need a bit of background on deciding between improving lots of lives for animals with, let's say, average welfare (that ...
Lau99's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
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Why are these premises on vegetarianism "intuitive"?

I was reading the first answer in this thread which considers vegetarianism from a moral standpoint: An excuse for not being a vegetarian Is it ethical for human beings to eat meat? To consider ...
Dhalsim's user avatar
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1 answer
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What is the ethical justification of animal rights?

I came to think about the animal rights, seeing that the post on the cats handing out in the school community became controversial. The content of the article was that someone had rescued the kitten, ...
Peter Kim's user avatar
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Is it ethical to save tigers?

From a utilitarian point of view, is it ethical to save tigers by creating sanctuaries and criminalizing poaching, when such tigers are known to violently attack humans? Also, one strain of response ...
SMJoe's user avatar
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1 answer
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Does moral aversion to dis-enhancing animals suggest insecurity in our current beliefs?

Specifically, does an aversion to genetic engineering suggest an insecurity of values regarding animal welfare? I ask because I am looking at the concept of using brainless chickens in the meat ...
Matt-T's user avatar
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0 answers
146 views

Do we need a theory of mind to think about qualia, and are these the capacity to think about the senses?

On animal consciousness Carruthers (1998a,b, 2000) has argued to this effect based on his ‘higher-order thought’ theory, according to which, phenomenal consciousness requires the capacity to ...
user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
134 views

Most recent introduction to academic debates to vegetarianism and veganism

What are the most recent and comprehensive academic books on vegetarianism, veganism, food ethics etc.? I am looking for something that would cover the main discussions in the field... something in ...
user24961's user avatar
22 votes
9 answers
8k views

Do humans have an ethical obligation to prevent animal on animal violence?

Going by a purely utilitarian perspective with a goal to reduce pain, I would think humans should do that. What it would involve, maybe feeding lab grown meat to tigers, and separating habitats? And ...
user2277550's user avatar
3 votes
6 answers
690 views

Kill the last of a species to save one child?

On 30 May 2016 a gorilla was killed after a small child fell into its enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. The type of gorilla was a Western Lowland Gorilla, which are endangered. Now, what if the ...
RoastBeast's user avatar
0 votes
6 answers
295 views

Should the debate about the ethics of meat consumption focus around sentience and the ability to suffer?

I have been reading a little bit about the problem of consuming meat ethically. As much as I find the ethical argument compelling I have some reservations regarding the inconsistency with which it ...
pgpb.padilla's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
411 views

What is the difference between plants and animals for Singer?

Peter Singer cares a lot about animals and he is against speciesism, the discrimination on the basis of species. However, I've never heard that he had said something about plants. What makes plants ...
wythagoras's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
862 views

Is there place for animal utility in utilitarianism?

Is there place for animal utility in utilitarianism? We know that animals can suffer, so they can have different states of well-being, and thus utility applies to them. However, I don't think that ...
wythagoras's user avatar
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2 answers
2k views

Is it more ethical to neuter cats than to let kittens be born and released outdoors when grownup?

This is about ethical requirements/duties versus practical constraints of people who keep stray cats as pets. This question and its discussion may be extended to stray dogs kept as pets, but ...
Krishnaraj Rao's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
8k views

Alastair Norcross's Puppies, Pigs, and People and utilitarianism

In the article "Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal cases" by Alastair Norcross, he mainly argued that factory-farmed meat is morally wrong and that people who support it (including ...
Chthonic Zyceus's user avatar
4 votes
12 answers
17k views

Are human lives always more important than animal lives?

Imagine a case: there is a fire in a house, there is a person and my pet dog and you only have enough time to save one. Which one should you should rescue? I think most people would choose the person....
Gstestso's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
525 views

Is there a school of thought that considers human less significant than other beings?

When discussing animal rights with friends, we talked about Anthropocentrism, Biocentrism and Ecocentrism. We were wondering if there is a school of thought that is the opposite of Anthropocentrism, ...
NS.X.'s user avatar
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1 answer
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Is it better thing to kill animal not human. Whats the difference?

One human is condemned if he kills another human, but if the same human killed an animal it is not a big deal and you won't even receive jail time (atleast in my country). How did we decided that ...
nitheism's user avatar
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3 answers
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How can we defend conservation on a species level?

Background Many conservation measures in environmental biology such as the IUCN red list or measures against invasive species are done on the level of species rather than on the level of individuals. ...
COOLSerdash's user avatar
6 votes
5 answers
453 views

moral value of dairy products?

Is the consumption of dairy products or eggs compatible with a) the theory of animal rights and b) equal consideration? Ad a) How can a right of ownership be defended, i.e. every animal is owner of ...
Frederike's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
427 views

Why is orangutan meat not good to eat?

Many of us, even slightly familiar with ethics, know about Tom Regan and his quest of establishing animal rights with us humans. According to him, vegetarianism is a moral obligation of all people, ...
Michael Lee's user avatar
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5 votes
6 answers
1k views

An excuse for not being a vegetarian [closed]

I recently found myself holding the following views, which seem to be in contradiction: It is morally wrong to kill a human being which wishes to live; in particular it is wrong to kill a baby or an ...
Jakub Konieczny's user avatar
19 votes
5 answers
2k views

Why should almost extinct animals be protected from going extinct?

The feeling that it's "sad" if a species dies out seems to be coming from an aesthetic point of view how the world should be. But is there a rationality behind it? The only rational reason I was ...
Nikolaj-K's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
783 views

Do animals deserve rights? [closed]

I've been thinking about this lately and I cannot come to a consistent conclusion. Do animals deserve any rights? If so which rights and to which animals? For example: testing medicine on chimps ...
Aman's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
374 views

Philosophical justification for giving certain animals rights of a person?

There is a growing movement for the bestowing certain non-human species with legal rights of a person. What might be some of the most significant or important philosophical arguments in favor of such ...
quant_dev's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
2k views

What are some good books on the relationship between animals and human beings?

So, there are a number of things I am actually after with this, but to try to encapsulate the concern briefly: which thinkers or writers might comment on the relationship between animals and human ...
Joseph Weissman's user avatar
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10 votes
2 answers
363 views

Adequate Animal Housing and the Naturalistic Fallacy [closed]

Many animal rights activists claim that adequate animal housing should be geared towards the natural environment of animals. For example, they claim that monkeys should be not kept within human's ...
Bob's user avatar
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16 votes
9 answers
11k views

Is absolute ethical veganism an irrational position?

I have a handful of friends who are strictly vegan, and I talked with each of them before about their views. At least 3 of them have said to me that under no circumstance would they eat an animal or ...
stoicfury's user avatar
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