Animal Liberation
Whilst the sanctity and well-being of life has been held at the pinnacle of homocentric ethics and morals, the interests of non-humans have been neglected due to a common belief that the life of an animal is insignificant and therefore expendable. Humankind has assumed position at the top of a power based hierarchy that encompasses all life forms, thus giving affirmation to the concept that animals are inferior to humans and consequently justifying the exploitation and mistreatment of non-humans. By disregarding the ability for animals to perceive pain, suffering and pleasure, humankind have removed their rights as individual life forms and relegated them to an existence of slavery, torment and slaughter. The philosophy that embodies animal liberation, moves to re-establish the rights and inherent value of all living organisms in order to create an equality between all life forms, where no species has supremacy over another, and all animals have an intrinsic right to life. The basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical treatment; it requires equal consideration (Singer, 1991:2). Thus each individual must be perceived as a unique being with their own inherent value, and the reciprocal relationship that is demon
The ethic of animal liberation conceptualises the balance of rights and respect between all life forms, consequently taking into consideration the differences between humans and animals and allowing inherent value to hold precedence over economic or human based value. All animals are equal, no matter what the nature of the being, the principle of equality requires that its' suffering be counted equally with the like suffering of any other being (Singer as cited in Midgley, 1986:65). Thus if non-humans are able to experience pain and pleasure, humans are bound by morals to respect the rights and inherent value of all animals, and consequently adapt their ethics and behaviour such that each living entity is given an equal amount of consideration as the next. Rene Descartes proposed that animals unlike humans are automata, possessing neither thoughts nor feelings nor a mental life of any kind (as cited in Singer, 1975:10). Characterising non-humans as being unable to feel, and consequently suffer or contemplate rational thought, denies their right to have interests and therefore be treated equally. If an animal were unable to experience pain, would it justify humankind's exploitation and mistreatment of that animal, or merely provide a scapegoat for actions that are regardless, morally wrong. To treat an animal as if it is a machine, consequently dissecting and exploiting it with complete ignorance to its' pain and suffering, contradicts all scientific evidence that indicates that the biological systems within all vertebrate animals stem from a mutual evolutionary origin. Therefore it is surely unreasonable to suppose that nervous systems which are virtually identical physiologically, have a common origin and common evolutionary function, and result in similar forms of behaviour in similar circumstances, should actually operate in an entirely different manner on the level of subjective feeling (Singer, 1975:13). Thus it is the understanding that non-humans are able to experience pain, suffering and pleasure on an equal level to that of their human counterparts, that influences humankind to bring the rights and welfare of non-humans into their own realm of moral concern. By doing so, humankind is able to mould a reciprocal relationship with non-humans, which encourages individuality, diversity and kinship and urges humankind to discard their egocentric ideals, and embrace a sense of unity wi
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1620
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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