10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

Many essays, especially in the later sections, end with a question, hopefully getting us to think more about questions of ethics, conservation, and the puzzles posed by nature. I’m not sure if “the Ugly” refers to the cormorant itself or human reaction (catfish farmers are officially allowed to shoot the birds). (I

Birds 115

Birds North America Breeding America 115

Animal Ethics

MAY 4, 2008

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. Animal rights ideology holds that moral worth comes with sentience or the ability to suffer.

Rights 40

Rights Animal Rights Movement Morals Ethical Treatment 40

Animal Ethics

APRIL 23, 2008

For every person, being a subject of interests, has rights, i.e., has a claim to respect of his interests under the law of equality of persons. Under the moral law, all beings who have interests are subjects of rights, while all those who in addition to having interests, are capable of grasping the demands of duty, are subjects of duties.

Rights 40

Rights Morals Apes Ethics 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 30, 2012

In 2002 the German Parliament amended Article 26 of the Basic Law to give nonhuman animals the right to be “respected as fellow creatures” and to be protected from “avoidable pain.” But a change in the common law (which Germany does not have) may be the most likely of all. What is the common law? Salem and Andrew N.

Rights 40

Rights For Animals Legislation Laws 40

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

But prejudices die hard, all the more so when, as in the present case, they are insulated by widespread secular customs and religious beliefs, sustained by large and powerful economic interests, and protected by the common law. Might does not make right; might does make law. Moral philosophy is no substitute for political action.

Animal Rights Movement 40

Animal Rights Movement Animal Rights Rights Los Angeles 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

Farm animals remain helpless, because they are legally incompetent, and assertion of their interests are barred by the traditional legal doctrine of "standing," a concept that is sound only when applied to competent human beings. Instead it aids industry boards that exist solely to sell animal products.

Farm Animal 40

Farm Animal Farmed Animals Farming Factory Farm 40

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 29, 2008

Moral philosophers began to regard it as an obvious truth that it is wrong to treat animals cruelly. It should be observed, however, that if our analysis of the situation is correct, then this change in moral attitude resulted in a restriction of rights rather than an extension of them.

Animal Cruelty 40

Animal Cruelty 2004 Cruelty Vivisection 40

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 23, 2009

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. Let us consider the moral question first. Similar considerations, I suggest, apply when we ask whether it is proper to say that animals have moral rights.

Animal Rights 40

Animal Rights Rights Animal Cruelty 40

Animal Ethics

MAY 21, 2008

Never underestimate the human capacity for rationalization ! So I din'd upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Boston Fish Slaughter 40

Animal Ethics

JULY 14, 2012

Whether individuals have legal rights depends on the laws and other legal background (e.g., The legal rights individuals have arise as the result of the creative activity of human beings. The concept of moral rights differs in important ways from that of legal rights. First, moral rights, if there are any, are universal.

Rights 40

Rights Morals Los Angeles Libya 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 16, 2010

Do you eat the human flesh served to you by your hosts? In other words, there are moral limits to science, as to law. When I do cook it (which is maybe once every two weeks), I try to be a responsible as possible. bjb Note from KBJ: Thanks for writing, Brad. Suppose you travel to a place in which cannibalism is practiced.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Lamb Animal Welfare Meat 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 24, 2006

As reported in the AP story, two styles of Sean John jackets—one a hooded snorkel style, the other a classic version—were originally advertised as faux fur, but an investigation by the Humane Society of the United States [ HSUS ] found that the jackets were made from dog fur. But is it really? Not according to my students.

Fur 40

Fur Fur Industry HSUS Raccoons 40