ETHICAL TREATMENTS OF ANIMALS

Ethical Treatments of Animals

Ethical Treatments of Animals

Introduction

Animal ethics refers to values that should govern human relationships with domestic and wild animals. In addition to acts of deliberate gratuitous cruelty, where a person tortures an animal in order to enjoy its suffering, areas of concern include everyday activities such as the raising of animals for food (especially those raised in concentrated animal feeding operations, CAFOs), research, product testing, hunting and fishing, and sport and entertainment. Objections to some forms of these activities often focus on effects on human health or on biodiversity and environmental quality. (Griswold, 2009) This research paper is concerned solely with the interests of the animals themselves, as discussed by thinkers in the Western tradition, including modern-day advocates of an enhanced moral status for animals. Animals are widely used in sport and entertainment, such as hunting, fishing, racing, and in circuses and zoos. Again, these practices cause much suffering to the animals involved, while providing only trivial benefits for humans.

Theoretical Framework

The paper is based over the theory formed by Rich, in the year 2011, based over the animal rights. The three basic rights that most animal rights, as suggested by Rich's study is that activists should be awarded to non-human animals are similar to those guaranteed to United States citizens in the Declaration of Independence: life, individual liberty, and exemption from torture. It has been found from various studies that opponents of animal rights argue that animals lack both the mental and moral capacity to be granted even the most basic rights. It traces the origins of the animal rights movement in the U.S. A background of the animal rights groups, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is presented. So Rich made efforts for relating the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 2006.Ethics & the Environment. (Rich, 2009)

Discussion

The Status of Animals in Western Tradition

Western culture is anthropocentric: humans are regarded as superior to other life forms (and to inanimate objects) and therefore entitled to treat nature as a storehouse of resources available for our benefit. The main philosophical roots of this worldview are ancient Greek thought and the Judeo-Christian tradition. With a few exceptions, the ancient Greek philosophers believed that this superiority is natural, based on capacities that are unique to humans such as language and the ability to reason. (Rich, 2009)

Although living things were not literally designed for a function, we can understand nature as purposive, based on what each does best; thus, all living things have a good of their own. The good for plants is growth, but plants are also valuable as a means to providing food for animals and humans. Animals are sentient beings that are aware of the world through sense perception; their good is therefore sensation. They are also valuable as a means for humans—as food, in agriculture, and for transportation. The highest good for humans is happiness, both because it is the ultimate goal of all human actions ...