Week 4 - Post 8

Singer does not discuss topics on the basis on pure moral arguments, but arguing on the topic itself. Peter Singer’s utilitarian view says that “equal consideration of interest” should be applied when discussing animal rights. Utilitarian view heavily influence’s Singer, where he believes that happiness and violation of happiness is the key in making moral judgments. He takes account the effect of discrimination and liberation movements on animals. Singer believes that we should extend human morals onto animals, and perhaps generate more awareness on animal rights. However, extending moral values does not suggest giving animals the exact same right has humans, for animals cannot fulfill many rights; such as voting, freedom of speech, and more. Moreover, human should offer the same consideration on animals and humans. Singer brought up speciesism, where discriminations towards animals occur on events such as animal experimentation or consuming animals. Furthermore, the ability to reason, speak, or suffer should not be a factor in animal rights; the only thing that matters is animal discrimination where animals are not being treated correctly. The main argument that Singer is trying to convey is that humans should treat animals the same as treating a human; however, animals should not have the same rights as humans.

Lane and Singer have similar view on the topic of animal rights, where Lane argues for utilitarian view from a scientific standpoint. The Central Nervous System enables human to distinguish pleasure and pain; a system that is present in both humans and animals, which means that the ability for animals to sense pleasure and pain similar to humans. Lane suggests putting human in animal’s position, and treating animals as though humans would treat themselves. Both philosophers disregards intelligence when arguing animal rights and focus on utilitarian aspects such as pleasure and pain, and both philosopher claim that it is unnecessary to feed on animal meat for humans to survive. Singer especially opposes animal experiments and inhuman living conditions, which he claims is an act of discrimination and is a form of speciesism.