Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 28, 2010

Let us think of the more moral members of society as a moral elite, much as the generality of scientists form a scientific elite. I hope I do not need to stress that such a moral elite must not be confused with a social or intellectual elite. I am myself not so heroic. I eat eggs though they may come from battery hens.

Morals 40

Morals Whales Whaling Chickens 40

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

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. Waterfall Dances: Do animals have spiritual experiences?

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 19, 2009

I assumed that Hume was right in thinking that ultimately morality depends on how we feel about things. It is a merit of utilitarianism, with its stress on happiness and unhappiness, that lower animals must be considered along with human beings, so that they are not debarred from full or direct consideration because they are not "rational."

Morals 40

Morals Animal Liberation Animal Dolphins 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 1, 2010

As regards animals, the position is clear. If an animal has the relevant moral capacities, actually or potentially, then it can be a possessor of rights. It may for this reason be morally appropriate for us meanwhile to act towards the former animals as if they are possessors of rights. (H.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Morals Animal 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 30, 2012

The legal rights of nonhuman animals might first be achieved in any of three ways. For example, the Treaty of Amsterdam that came into force on May 1, 1999, formally acknowledged that nonhuman animals are “sentient beings” and not merely goods or agricultural products. Wise , “ The Evolution of Animal Law Since 1950 ,” chap.

Rights 40

Rights For Animals Legislation Laws 40

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2020

We’re all connected through email and listservs, and we all swap information and provide each other with moral support. But one in particular did not even involve contact with an animal. The story of smuggling an eagle to Canada is fiction, as it would be far too stressful even for a bird used to being around people. There are so many!

Wildlife Rehabilitation 246

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eagles Wildlife 246

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2013

What better testament to Carl Akeley, the taxidermist who mounted that elephant and to whom the Hall of African Mammals is dedicated, than to say that he turned a vast, throbbing, stampeding, living animal into an edifice with a feeling so much like permanence that a pigeon could go to sleep there? Of course it’s not permanent.

Elephants 156

Elephants Mammals Buffalo Gorillas 156