article thumbnail

From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

To the Editor: In “ Hunting Deer With My Flintlock ” (Op-Ed, Dec. He has volunteered to kill a deer cruelly, ineptly and with an outdated weapon that causes additional suffering to the deer. He says he hunts out of a need to take responsibility for his family, who evidently live where the supermarkets offer no meat.

article thumbnail

H. B. Acton (1908-1974) on Animal Rights

Animal Ethics

When it is asked whether animals have rights, and whether human beings have duties to them, the question, I think, is partly moral and partly verbal. The question of words is whether to talk about the rights of animals is likely to mislead. Let us consider the moral question first. Even congenital idiots look like men.

article thumbnail

Prima Facie vs. Ultima Facie Wrongness

Animal Ethics

Rest assured that if you are purchasing meat from your favorite fast food restaurant, your favorite sit-down chain restaurant, or your local grocery store, you are purchasing the flesh of a tortured animal. The point is that even hunters seem to think that they need a reason to justify killing these animals.