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John Passmore (1914-2004) on the Moral Status of Animals

Animal Ethics

One restriction on the absolutism of man's rule over Nature is now generally accepted: moral philosophers and public opinion agree that it is morally impermissible to be cruel to animals. That, on the whole, is the Christian tradition. Controversies no doubt remain.

Morals 40
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The Emotional Lives of Animals

4 The Love Of Animals

Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience. Scientific research shows that many animals are very intelligent and have sensory and motor abilities that dwarf ours. In many ways, human emotions are the gifts of our animal ancestors. Grief in magpies and red foxes: Saying goodbye to a friend.

Emotional 100
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Michael Fox on Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

Modern livestock farming on a grand scale also wastes a colossal amount of feed grains on animals which, in times past, would simply have fed off the land. There is no doubt a good deal of truth in this last point as well, and we are here presented with a serious moral problem concerning the world food supply. One can only agree.

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Tom Regan on the Animal-Rights Movement

Animal Ethics

It is simply projustice, insisting only that the scope of justice be seen to include respect for the rights of animals. The animal rights movement is not for the faint of heart. How we change the dominant misconception of animals—indeed, whether we change it—is to a large extent a political question.

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Nature’s Ambassador: The Legacy of Thornton W. Burgess, by Christie Palmer Lowrance

10,000 Birds

” I never did read about them, and eventually the memory of Sammy Blue Jay, Polly Woodchuck, Reddy Fox, and the rest faded to the back of my mind along with the details of Struggle Beneath the Sea and Sharon, Lois, and Bram.

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Peter Singer on Animal Rights

Animal Ethics

It would only be surprising to one who assumes that my case for animal liberation is based upon rights and, in particular, upon the idea of extending rights to animals. My basic moral position (as my emphasis on pleasure and pain and my quoting Bentham might have led Fox to suspect) is utilitarian.

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The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and Who Pays for It

10,000 Birds

Now, in 21st century America, we’re entertaining new considerations, in keeping with our modern understanding of wild animals and conservation. A new willingness among scientists to consider certain moral and ethical implications with respect to wild animals, where previously utilitarian ideas prevailed, including ideas of intrinsic value.

Wildlife 231