Defenses of speciesism
This text examines and questions the view s of those theorists have argued in defense of speciesism. Read more
Moral intuitions and biases
The appeal to intuitions shouldn’t lead us to accept speciesism or other questionable moral views. Read more
The argument from relevance
Respecting someone means taking their wellbeing into account, and in order to be taken into account, sentience is what matters. Any other condition would be irrelevant to the question of whether one’s wellbeing should be considered. Other conditions may be relevant for something else (for instance, having certain intellectual capacities certainly appears to be relevant for being admitted to a university). But they are not relevant for being taken into account when what is at stake is wellbeing. Read more
Virtue ethics and care ethics
The virtue ethics approach defends the notion that ethics is about the kind of person we are, more than about what we do. Care ethicists claim that the basis for our ethical concerns should be our emotional responses to them. Read more
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that defends that we should act in ways that bring about as much happiness as possible in the world. Read more
Rights theories: Different positions
Moral rights are conceived of as rights that individuals are born with and have regardless of whether or not they have legal rights to protect them. Read more
Egalitarianism
Egalitarianism is an ethical theory that defends that a situation is best if the happiness present in that situation is distributed as equally as possible. […] Read more
Contractarianism
Contractarian principles are based on what we would accept in a scenario in which there aren’t yet any accepted moral or political principles. Read more
The argument from impartiality
The argument from impartiality claims that if we considered the treatment of animals impartially, we would not accept treating them worse than humans. Read more
The argument from species overlap
Those who consider it legitimate to treat nonhuman animals unfavorably based on their capacities cannot defend equal treatment of all humans. Read more
Arguments against speciesism
The question of whether or not we should favor the interests of humans over those of nonhuman animals is at the core of animal ethics. The view that we should favor human interests has been criticized as speciesist. Read more
Negative consequentialism
According to negative consequentialism, the need to reduce suffering as much as possible must always take priority over anything else. Read more
Rights theories: the general approach
In ethics, “rights” is shorthand for “moral rights,” but in Law, it’s shorthand for something else. In the legal system, individuals enjoy legal rights. Legal rights also protect the interests of individuals, but legal rights and moral rights are different things. Read more
Different ethical theories
There are many different ethical theories. One feature the most widely accepted ones have in common is that they support the moral consideration of animals. Read more
Ethical theories and nonhuman animals
Ethics is a critical reflection on how we should act and why. Animal ethics is the field of ethics that deals with how and why […] Read more
Begging the question
Arguments that beg the question, also known as circular arguments, have trivial conclusions because the premises assume what they are claiming to prove. To put it another way: we can’t be convinced of something by an appeal to a premise we can’t accept. Read more
Speciesism
Speciesism is a form of discrimination – discrimination against those who don’t belong to a certain species. Speciesism is giving different sentient beings differing moral consideration for unjust reasons. Read more