Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2008

Ethical vegetarianism is the thesis that killing and eating animals is morally wrong whenever equally nutritious plant-based alternatives are available. The case for ethical vegetarianism starts with several uncontroversial premises. It is not just a few outspoken animal rights fanatics who hold this view.

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2007

Here are three paragraphs from a recent essay by Roger Scruton : As I suggested, science provides authority for this weird morality only when clothed in moral doctrine. And that explains, in part, the appeal of the animal-rights movement. To live with a human being is hard; to live with a mere animal is easy.

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Animal Ethics

AUGUST 4, 2007

overall well-being), there is great inequality among dogs. Some dogs have their basic needs satisfied, but little more. What we should be concerned with is not the gap between "rich" dogs and "poor" dogs, but the absolute welfare level of dogs. No dog should have its basic needs unsatisfied.

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Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 30, 2007

There is no moral difference between eating a dog or a pig, a cat or a chicken. For the same reason that most of us would not eat our pets, we should also not eat chickens, pigs or other animals. Borders Jr.

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Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

In fact, a whole lot of semi-vegans can do much more for animals than the tiny number of people who are willing to give up all animal products and scrupulously read labels. Farm animals also benefit from the humane farming movement, even if the animal welfare changes it effects are not all that we should hope and work for.

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Animal Ethics

JUNE 11, 2008

So far McCloskey is on solid ground, but one can quarrel with his denial that any animals but humans have interests. I should think that the trustee of funds willed to a dog or cat is more than a mere custodian of the animal he protects. The animal itself is the beneficiary of his dutiful services.

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Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

People who study pigs say they are as intelligent as a 3-year-old child, smarter even than the dogs we share our homes with. Would anyone in this day and age dare to say that we cannot presume to know a dog’s mind, that a dog cannot tell us if it is happy or sad, frustrated, lonely or bored?

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2008

There is a difficulty about drawing from all this a moral for ourselves. But then we can say this because we can say that all those are bad moralities, whereas we cannot look at our own moralities and declare them bad. It is natural to feel sympathy for animals who are suffering. This is bad faith.

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Animal Ethics

JUNE 4, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. In fact, animals used for food do suffer a great deal. Meat-packing companies might encourage, for example, an increased dog population to take up the slack. In other contexts a similar phenomenon has occurred.

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 2, 2008

e) Don’t purchase cosmetics or personal care products that were tested on animals when equally effective cruelty-free products are available. For no extra charge, switching to a vegan diet also dramatically reduces your contribution to unnecessary animal suffering. Don’t wear wool. (e)

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2006

e) Don’t purchase cosmetics or personal care products that were tested on animals when equally effective cruelty-free products are available. For no extra charge, switching to a vegan diet also dramatically reduces your contribution to unnecessary animal suffering.

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 24, 2006

According to this Associated Press story, if you are wearing a Sean John jacket with fur trim purchased from Macy's, that trim might have come from a dog indigenous to Asia known as a "raccoon dog." Each semester when I teach Contemporary Moral Issues, on the first day of class I begin with a survey. But is it really?

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