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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2004 Animal Rights Rights Animal 40

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 29, 2008

Once a definite social movement got under way in the West with its objective the restricting of man's treatment of animals, it moved with relative rapidity. Moral philosophers began to regard it as an obvious truth that it is wrong to treat animals cruelly. But not so far as seriously to limit man's domination of the world.

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Animal Cruelty 2004 Cruelty Vivisection 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 18, 2006

Keith has not only been my favorite Philosophy professor that I have studied under during the course of my college experience, but my favorite professor in general. My personal perspective regarding Animal Ethics is not fully formed, which is one of the reasons why Keith and I felt it would be a good idea for me to post on here.

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Factory Farm Factory Farming Morals Factory 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 17, 2008

Whoever thought President Bush was a pro-animal environmentalist? People like Adolf Hitler are pro-animal environmentalists! The point, of course, is that there is no necessary connection between (1) a person's attitude toward animals or the environment and (2) his or her normative political theory.

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Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

There are two approaches a vegetarian might take in arguing that rearing and killing animals for food is morally offensive. He might argue that eating animals is morally bad because of the pain inflicted on animals in rearing and killing them to be eaten. Nor could he object to the painless killing of wild animals.

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Animal Ethics

JULY 30, 2007

This arises from the fact that we have duties to animals and to infants. We had better therefore take the less complicated case of animals, which we commonly suppose not to be even potential moral agents. It may of course be denied that we have duties to animals. Professor D.

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Animal Rights Rights Animal Morals 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 12, 2010

If there has been progress in ethics recently it has been through the realization of some ethicists that animal happiness and suffering has to be considered equally with that of human beings. I should draw attention here to the remarkable book Animal Liberation by Professor Peter Singer of Monash University.

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Ethics Animal Liberation Suffering Science 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2007

A column entitled "Ag Industry Threatened by Animal Rights" appeared in today's High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal [ HPMAJ ]. The column, which you can read here , is a call to arms to factory farmers to fight back against those individuals and organizations working to protect farm animals from the abuses inherent in factory farms.

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Factory Factory Farm Factory Farming Gestation Crates 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Not in words, of course, but they can answer in ways that we can understand if we are paying attention. I think it is safe to say that yes, an intelligent animal is unhappy, even downright miserable, being confined to a crate two by seven feet for months on end. Farm Animal Welfare, ASPCA New York, Feb. SUZANNE McMILLAN Dir.,

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New York Times New York Gestation Crates Gestation 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 28, 2010

If we judge this moral elite by its adherence to something like the Golden Rule of the New Testament, there is not all that much room for its improvement, except, as I suggested earlier, for the extension of our moral sympathies to nonhuman animals.

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Morals Whales Whaling Chickens 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 17, 2008

What the utilitarian who defends human carnivorousness must say, then, is something like this: that the amount of pleasure which humans derive per pound of animal flesh exceeds the amount of discomfort and pain per pound which are inflicted on the animals in the process, all things taken into account. Is this plausible?

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Vegetarian Morals Vegetarian Cooking Slaughter 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 21, 2008

It represents an increase in the efficiency of the conversion of solar energy from plant to human biomass, and thus, by bypassing animal intermediates, increases available food resources for human beings. Baird Callicott , "Animal Liberation: A Triangular Affair," Environmental Ethics 2 [winter 1980]: 311-38, at 335 [italics in original])

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Vegetarian Animal Liberation Shelters Ethics 40

Animal Ethics

JULY 7, 2009

The Argument from Animal Rights A stronger argument is made by people who maintain that animals have rights. In particular, it has been argued that animals have a right to life. So, even if animals are killed painlessly and raised for food in humane ways, it is wrong to kill them.

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Morals Vegetarian Suffering Killing 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 9, 2009

His book on atheism is among the best I have read on that topic, which is why I used it in my Philosophy of Religion course many years ago. (I I use different books in my courses to keep things interesting for me.) My examination will not be complete, of course. The contrast would be, for example, “health vegetarianism.”

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Vegetarian Morals Meat Vegan 40

Animal Ethics

MAY 4, 2008

There is no inconsistency in rejecting plant rights while accepting animal rights. If Smith thinks that plant rights and animal rights stand or fall together, then he is confused, for there is a morally relevant difference between plants and animals, namely, that only the latter are sentient.

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Rights Animal Rights Movement Morals Ethical Treatment 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 11, 2008

Of course, the meat is more expensive since it takes lots of real estate to freely graze a herd, and it’s tougher than typical supermarket fare (Americans are used to a style of marbling that’s caused by grain diets and flabby cattle, whereas grass-fed cows are trim from their daily ambles). Jillian Fry Baltimore, Dec. This is stupid.

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New York Times New York Meat Animal Welfare 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 4, 2007

Hello Keith: I recently completed a documentary on the science, ethics, and politics of animal agriculture entitled "Beyond Closed Doors." The film contains personal interviews with prominent professionals such as Dr. Temple Grandin, Dr. Bernard Rollin, Dr. John Webster, Steve Wise, and many others.

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Welfare Medical Meat Ethics 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 3, 2007

I wrote the following for a blog on the Animals and Religion Forum on the Best Friends Animal Network website. So many people today do not realize how God feels about the animal kingdom, His own special creation. When Jesus died on the cross, He didn't just save us humans—He died for the animals, too.

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Lamb Goats Humane Animal 40

Animal Ethics

JULY 7, 2008

What have humane people to say to the tremendous mass of animal suffering inflicted in the interests of the Table?

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Vegetarian Animal Suffering Suffering Humane 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 27, 2008

Man, said the ancient philosophers, is a rational animal. Animal: genus; common denominator of man and beast. Classical thought stopped short of that, of course. Perhaps the good for man cannot be comprehended out of the context of a universal good in which man shares. True Irrationality.

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Dolphins Non Human Humane Morals 40

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 28, 2006

Mylan recently provided a list of additional books, which I will add in due course. One thing I appreciate is links to animal-related stories. Thanks for visiting. Please spread the word to your friends, colleagues, and students. If you have suggestions, including ways to improve the blog, please write to Mylan or me.

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Animal 40

Animal Ethics

MARCH 6, 2008

The bird was buried on the golf course—perhaps in an effort to hide the evidence—but was later dug up by Florida investigators. Isenhour is charged with cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird. According to the report, Isenhour repeatedly hit balls directly in the hawk's direction until he hit the hawk.

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Michael Vick Cruelty Killing Laws 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 24, 2007

Most people are shocked and appalled when they first read descriptions of factory farming and learn about the horribly inhumane conditions in which the billions of animals destined for dinner tables are raised, and they are even more appalled when they first see documentary footage of the institutional cruelties inherent in factory farming.

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 12, 2009

He believed, of course, that one ought always to do one's duty and also that only acts motivated by respect for moral law have moral worth. Kant's ethics is as much an ethics of self-esteem as it is an ethics of duty. I conclude with two brief comments.

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Humane Morals Adoptable Ethics 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 16, 2006

Love, of course, isn’t sufficient for being a philosopher (it may not even be necessary), but Jonathan has a genuine aptitude for philosophy. He received the highest score in both my fall 2005 Social and Political Philosophy course and my spring 2006 Ethics course.

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Arlington 2006 2005 Vegetarian 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 31, 2007

When I was in law school, many years ago, I wrote a lengthy term paper entitled "The Legal Status of the Wolf ( Canis Lupus ) in Michigan, 1805-1982" for a graduate history course I was taking.

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Animal Ethics

MAY 30, 2007

You eat a dog, of course! How do you protest fox hunting? See here for details.

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 2, 2008

Stop supporting unnecessary animal cruelty in all of its forms. Now that 2008 has arrived, I'd like once again to encourage new and old readers alike to make this the year that they stop supporting animal cruelty in all of its forms. Stop supporting unnecessary animal cruelty in all of its forms.

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Rights Animal Cruelty Vegan Cruelty 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 9, 2008

Governor Palin thinks the proposed listing is a backdoor way of forcing the federal government to change course on global warming policy, but it does no such thing. Though hunting still plays a role and led to a bilateral treaty with Russia, ratified last September, climate change is the major threat to polar bears today.

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New York Times Polar Bears New York Bears 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2006

Stop supporting unnecessary animal cruelty in all of its forms. Stop supporting unnecessary animal cruelty in all of its forms. What can I do to stop supporting unnecessary animal cruelty, and is it difficult to do so? b) Stop eating animal products. (c) h) Don’t attend circuses that contain nonhuman animal acts. (i)

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2007 Rights Animal Cruelty Cruelty 40

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 16, 2008

But there is a net loss in all meat production, not just of farmed fish or feeding fish to land animals being raised for food. Feeding grain to chickens, pigs and cows is even more inefficient, with 70 percent of grain grown in the United States going to animals raised for food. Danielle Kichler Washington, Nov. Lerner Woodside, Calif.,

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New York Times New York Factory Farm Factory Farming 40

Animal Ethics

JUNE 4, 2009

In fact, animals used for food do suffer a great deal. Now there is no doubt that the actual treatment of animals used for food is immoral, that animals are made to suffer needlessly. Now there is no doubt that the actual treatment of animals used for food is immoral, that animals are made to suffer needlessly.

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Vegetarian Morals Protest Protesting 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

Most moral vegetarians list fish and fowl as animals one should not eat. First, it may be argued that only animals who can feel pain are not to be eaten. KBJ: Nobody in the animal-rights or animal-liberation movement views intelligence as a morally significant property, at least intrinsically. What is forbidden meat?

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Morals Vegetarian Meat Killing 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2006

They can't solve the problem of animal suffering all by themselves, so they throw up their hands in defeat and go on eating meat. How many problems can be solved—in their entirety—by a single person, even over the course of a lifetime? But that's not the only way to look at it, and I would argue that it's not the right way.

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Turkey Suffering Morals Animal Suffering 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 23, 2006

Jonathan Hubbell, a philosophy major at the University of Texas at Arlington, is the newest member of the Animal Ethics blog, and once again, I would like to welcome him aboard. It truly is horrific and despicable to treat animals so badly. All that follows from that assumption is that it is morally permissible to eat some meat.

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Factory Farm Factory Farming Morals Meat 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 24, 2006

One of the questions on the survey is: "Is it morally permissible to kill animals for fur coats?" Watch the video first, and then, ask yourself whether torturing an animal in this way is morally permissible just so that we can have ornamental fur trim on the hoods of our jackets. Just how do Chinese workers kill raccoon dogs?"

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 21, 2008

Of course, the critics could be wrong, but if so, the responsibility for setting them right rests with one man: Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Critics in and out of Congress have been quick to question the motives for the delay.

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New York Times Polar Bears New York Endangered Species 40