Preview

Animal Rights - Is It Morally Wrong to Eat Meat?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
886 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Animal Rights - Is It Morally Wrong to Eat Meat?
[Name]
[Professor 's Name]
[Subject]
[Date]
ANIMAL RIGHTS
Is it morally wrong to eat meat?

The movement for animal rights, which is also known as animal liberation, is the concept that the basic interests of animals should be regarded with an equal eye as with humans. It promotes the fact that animal should not be treated as public property, traded or be made a part of any business transaction, but they should be treated as legal persons, with their own rights. According to the Utilitarianism view, right is what will promote the greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number happiness.
There are many questions that arise as a result of the views presented by different philosophers. One of the questions that arise is "Is it morally wrong to eat meat?" The case for animal rights has been advocated by Peter Singer who maintains that there is a difference between the rights of human beings and animals but that the later should be given equal consideration and that all animals are equal. R.G.Frey, meanwhile, considers that the human beings have a higher value as compared to animals on account of their potential and abilities and the quality of life that they lead. However he accepts that equal pain and suffering is also suffered by animals. In Tom Regan 's case for animal rights, he speaks about how animals have moral rights and if due respect is given to human beings who are not rational, such as infants or mentally challenged people, then animals should not be deprived of this right just because they cannot make rational decisions for themselves.
Utilitarianism views state that the moral worth of an action can be judged only by how it contributes to overall utility or satisfaction, that is, the outcome of an action will decide its worth. With regard to animal rights, Peter Singer and R.G.Frey were act- utilitarian. Going back to the Classical utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) believed that pleasure and suffering is equal and those



References: R.G.Frey. "Moral Standing, the Value of Lives, and Speciesism." (n.d.). Regan, Tom. "The Case for Animal Rights." (n.d.). Singer, Peter. "All Animals are equal." (n.d.).

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Animal rights are rights given to animals that allow them to live a life without ill-treatment and corporate exploitation. PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has said, “When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. Each one values his or her life and fights the knife”(). I agree that animals should have compassion shown towards them, as they have a life worth living. At the same time, I don't believe that an animal's…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the essay titled “Religion and Animal Rights” by American Philosopher Tom Regan, Mr. Regan maintains the position that animals are the “subjects-of-a-life”, just as humans are. If we want to ascribe value to all human beings regardless of the degree of rationality they are capable of, then in order to be consistent we must similarly ascribe it to non-human animals as well. He effectively uses a pathos and logos approach when he argues to his audience that that all practices involving the mistreatment of animals should be abolished rather than reformed, animals have an inherent value just as humans do, and emphasizes that unbridled Christian theology has brought the earth to the brink of ecological disaster.…

    • 1452 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The theory behind the philosophy of Utilitarianism stems from a man named Jeremy Bentham. In Bentham’s essay The Utilitarian Calculus, he endeavors to document suffering on the basis that man at his core is purely hedonistic. “Motivational hedonism is the claim that only pleasure or pain motivates us.”(Moore) To Bentham, beings controlled by pleasure and pain bear the moral responsibility to limit pain and maximize pleasure to its greatest extent. He had advocated for the…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Animals deserve rights because just like humans, they feel excruciating pain, suffer and have feelings. One would argue that animals don’t experience emotions? But the answer is of course they do. It is emotions that allow animals to display various behavior patterns. According to the theory of utilitarianism, all sentient beings should be given consideration in the society and this includes both animals and humans. Also, animals cannot speak for themselves and for this reason they should be treated equally, protected and given the same respect as human beings. Peter singer’s approach also supports the argument on equal consideration in that animals deserve the same respect as human beings but just in a different view. In today’s society humans exploit animals for milk, meat, fur, scientific experimentation etc. and animals are constantly injured or killed. Their pain and sufferings should be taken into consideration, as this unjust treatment is morally unacceptable. Similarly speciesism is an…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In "The Case for Animal Rights," Tom Regan writes about his beliefs regarding animal rights. Regan states the animal rights movement is committed to a number of goals, including: "the total abolition of the use of animals in science; the total dissolution of commercial animal agriculture; and the total elimination of commercial and sport hunting and trapping. Regan goes on and tells us the "fundamental wrong is the system that allows us to view animals as our resources, here for us--to be eaten, or surgically manipulated, or exploited for sport or money." Once people accept this view of animals being here for our resources, they believe what harms the animal doesn't really matter. Regan explains that in order to have this changed, people must change their beliefs. If enough people, especially people that hold a public office, change their beliefs, there can be laws made to protect the rights of animals.…

    • 684 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Regan's Position

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages

    An Argumentative essay that looks at and breaks down the philosophical difference between Tom Regan’s position on Animal rights and, Peter Singer’s position on Animal liberation as a basis for better treatment of animals.…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Utilitarianism, the theory that actions are right if they useful for the majority, the greatest happiness and pleasure for the greatest and majority of people. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was an English moral philosopher concerned with social reform, Bentham wanted people to seek pleasure and avoid pain. On the other hand John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) who was a great admirer of Bentham; however, he believed in the principle of utility and the idea that please should be ranked according to quality not quantity. For example: eating a mars bar is a poorer pleasure compared to listening to poetry. Mill believing in pleasures of the mind is greater than pleasures of the body (eating). Within this essay I shall be discussing the different views of Bentham and Mill and how their theories are strengths for the utilitarian system.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    What are animal rights? It’s the right believed to animals to live free from medical research, hunting and violence. Throughout the world animals are being abused and exploited for our own pleasure. They are persecuted for hunting, leaving them dead or wounded. Animal research and experimentations are frequently being practiced in today’s society, and the animals are being tortured and heartlessly killed. Animals are wrongly forced into mistreatment, animal rights should annihilate the problems with animal abuse, hunting, and experimentation.…

    • 1485 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people believe that animals have feelings and that they are able to feel what a human feels such love, suffering, stress even some people think that we share similar characteristics. in the article "A Change of Heart About Animals '' the author Jeremy Rifkin argument that animals are the same as human beings and that we should also treat them with love and respect. For some reasons, activists and some law schools believe in animals rights and they want to protect animals but if there were a bill of rights for animals some certain things would change for a reason some would not be benefit from this. Pass a bill of right it is not a good idea because it would change many things.…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Animals from creation have been an essential integral part of human beings. They have frequently been, either directly or indirectly, used by humans to achieve their needs. Hence they are important part and great asset to humans. These animals do have lives different from that of humans and equally have some similar characteristics with humans like emotional feelings. This very fact puts humans in a difficult position of determining the amount of respect and regard that should be accorded to the animals. Some people agitate that animals should be granted same equal rights as human beings. Inasmuch as I quite agree that animals should be granted some rights in order to be free from cruel treatments by humans, the issue of granting them equal full rights as enjoyed by humans should not come up. An objective review of such factors as tradition, cultural believes, religious, socio-economic, and medical as well as salient natural features that distinguish animals from humans like morality, and ability to…

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Utilitarianism is a relativist, consequentialist and teleological system of ethics based on the idea of ‘utility’. This means usefulness and utilitarian suggest that everyone should be the most useful thing. The theory was devised by Jeremy Bentham who said “an action is right if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number”. He believed human beings are motivated by pleasure and pain.…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Animals Vs Vegetarianism

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The processed meat industry is an 800 billion dollar industry killing over 10 billion animals each in the United State alone. Factory farmed livestock account for over 99% of all the meat consumed by Americans even though they are raised in these despicable conditions. Many animals raised on factory farms live in abhorrent conditions where they are unable to turn around in their own cages, live in their own feces, and never even see the light of day.. Peter Singer dives into the idea that all animals are equal in a selection taken out of his book Animal Liberation, found in James and Stuart Rachels’ The Right Thing To Do, and advocates for the humane treatment of animals. Singer lays out the argument that it is morally wrong to make animals…

    • 1472 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Animal Rights Final Paper

    • 5494 Words
    • 16 Pages

    Animal Rights is the affection and kind treatment offered to every animal without discrimination. Animal Rights involves treating animals with respect and investing in their best interests, regardless if the animal is “cute” or useful to humans.vi The importance of Animal Rights is to protect animals from being abused and exploited. Animal Rights also protects endangered species from extinction. According to Tom Regan, “Animal Rights is to treat humans and other…

    • 5494 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The theory of utilitarianism was developed by and associated by Jeremy Bentham and utilitarianism is a teleological ethical theory where the moral value of an action can be judged by its consequences. Three main philosophers have come up with different types of utilitarianism. Jeremy Bentham introducing Act Utilitarianism and John Stuart Mill trying to improve the flaws that he encountered with Bentham’s theory with his Rule Utilitarianism and lastly, Peter Singer with his preference utilitarianism.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Do We Eat Meat Wrong

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    But: This is using 'rights' in a rather technical philosophical sense. When people talk about animal rights colloquially, they are usually talking about animal interests…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays