Singer And Steinbock Essay

Explain the argument between Singer and Steinbock on the moral status of speciesism.

Advocating for animal welfare, Singer coins the term "specism" to describe discriminatory practices, which people express in their relations to the non-humans animals. Singer builds his case for promoting equality among all living species by offering an analogy between the "oppression" of animal rights and the historical accounts of the fight for justice and equal rights for women and people of color. He refers to the utilitarian principles expressed by Sidgwick, which holds that "the good of any one individual is of no more importance than the good of any other." Analyzing the complexity of perceived hierarchy in the human relations, Singer arrives at the conclusion that equality does not depend on intelligence, moral capacity, or
Men and women of all colors, no matter how different they are in appearance, bodily functions, thought process, or the level of intelligence, belong to the same category of organisms in the universe: homo sapiens. Steinbock is challenging his argument favoring the use sentience as the common denominator determining the right for equal consideration between humans and nonhuman animals, by reminding readers that people share specific characteristics, which are only inherent to the humankind and distinguish them from the rest of the living organisms on the planet. Among those are moral autonomy, reciprocity in relationships, motivation by altruistic or moral reasons, fair judgment, an ability to reason and think abstractly, and a desire for self-respect and self-actualization. Ultimately, Steinbock believes that it is the possession of those capacities that creates the distinction between human beings and nonhuman animals that will justify different treatment while not compromising human