|
| |
ANIMAL RIGHTS.
Term Paper ID:28133
|
|
|
Essay Subject:
Discusses practical & moral aspects, lab testing, experimentation, fujr trade & trophjy hunting.... More...
|
9 Pages / 2025 Words
8 sources, 18 Citations,
MLA Format
$36.00
Return to List of Papers
|
Paper Abstract:
Discusses practical & moral aspects, lab testing, experimentation, fujr trade & trophjy hunting.
Paper Introduction:
ANIMAL RIGHTS: THE EVOLUTION OF MORALITY
As human beings, we are masters of our domain. We are the undisputed occupiers of the top rung of the food chain. In this, we have the burden of choice. We must decide where we will be merciful and where we will be ruthless, where we will defend and where we will persecute, where we will commit our attention and where we will be ignorant. We contend that reason and necessity govern our behavior. We believe, at least individually, that we are compassionate beings. And yet today, we are collectively ruthless, we collectively persecute, and we are collectively ignorant regarding those beings which are weaker than we: we are the cruel overlords of the animal kingdom.
At present, on an average day in the United States, 130,000 cattle, 7,000 calves, 360,000 pigs, and 24 million chickens are killed(Willia
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
Examples of animal rights abuses are boundless. Surely it does. We all possess a varying degree of intelligence. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. "The Case For Strong Animal Rights." Animal Rights: Opposing Viewpoints. Regardless of the type of abuse an animal is subjected to, from amoral perspective it is all the same. In the laboratory, animals are merely apart of the scientific apparatus. Although surely the most senseless forms of animal rights infringementare the fur trade and trophy hunting. Rats and mice are geneticallyaltered and prompted to develop diseases and deformities. In this, we have the burdenof choice. "The Inhumanity of the Animal People." Harper's Magazine. We believe, at least individually, thatwe are compassionate beings. Morally speaking, there is simply no justificationfor the taking of animal life for trophy. We would be best off finding alternatives,beginning with the more humane treatment of animals on the farm. Surely, none are moreinnocent than the animals. Kathleen Marquardt, founder of Putting People First, a groupdesigned to combat animal-rights activists, asserts "Animals can't choose,so they can't have rights"(Monagie 2 ). Opponents of animal rights suggest that because animals do notpossess the same faculties for reason, intelligence, and contemplation thathumans do, that therefore we are justified in destroying them atwill(Singer 18-19). Once this fundamental right is accepted, somemandatory provisions may be understood as self-evident. December 18, 1989 v134 n25 p72(1).Regan, Tom. Animals should no longer be slain fortheir fur or pelt. Misleading monkey experimentsdelayed the finding of a working polio vaccine for decades. And yet today, we are collectively ruthless,we collectively persecute, and we are collectively ignorant regarding thosebeings which are weaker than we: we are the cruel overlords of the animalkingdom. We are everywhere-omnipotent- the all-powerful top of the food chain, and we can act exactlyas we please. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. Only about 12percent of Americans are hunters, and their numbers are dwindling.Conventional wisdom tends to condemn hunting more and more frequently,deeming it a brutal, macho ritual lacking in sensitivity or necessity.Even the argument that hunters must hunt to control deer populations isundermined as year after year hunters are the first to protest when non-human predators move into and area an begin to control game populationsnaturally(Cartmill 174-78). If we understand the concept of suffering at all, it is impossible notto condemn lab testing on animals. Peter Singer, father of the concept of Animal Liberation states: "If abeing suffers, there can be no moral justification for refusing to takethat suffering into consideration"(24). Animalstoo know satisfaction and frustration, elation and misery; we must, by thedictates of our own system, afford them with the same inherent value thatwe afford ourselves(Regan, 35-37). Namely, thatanimals should no longer be used for medical research and testing. Those rights, boileddown to their purest essence, demand simply that animals be allowed to livea life free of torture. In virtually every case of lab testing, the element of suffering,either physical or psychological is essential to the research. They are fed with growth stimulantsand drugs, and are sprayed with pesticides. We all care for and teach our young. 132-137.Williams, Joy. "Are Animals Equal?" Scholastic Update. which is what weeventually buy at the store and eat(Ten Eyck 134-35). But consider: if a being iscapable of suffering, as animals clearly are, does that being not possess avery real, innate interest? As a practical measure, evenwearing fur in this day and age is considered a faux pas, and fur coats area constant target for scorn. Andessentially, no animal test may ever be deemed conclusive or successfuluntil it has been tested on a human- and humans tests often contradictanimal tests, making the loss of animal life a total waste (Althoff 76-77). And yet we do not say that thosepeople who cannot understand molecular biology, or cannot read, have lessinherent value than those who can. Even for meat, it is nearlyimpossible to make a case for hunting in America. Why not extend to those creatures below us the same giftsthat we hope to receive from above? And happily, hunters are a dying breed themselves. 173-181).Monagie, Katie. Meat-bearing chickens are genetically bred forrapid growth and bulk, and are born deformed as a consequence. In England, the beefindustry experienced this in the form of Mad Cow disease, believed to becaused by the feeding of cows with the rendered remains of diseasedsheep(Williams 64). As immoral as this system is, it is also dangerous for humans.Manure, dead chickens, and other farm-animal carcasses are ground andprocessed into animal feed which is fed back to the birds. If we are to accept the rights of animals on even the most basiclevel, it is morally impossible to accept the utterly pointlessextermination of animals for their fur alone. "Modern Farming is Inhumane." Animal Rights: Opposing Viewpoints. April 16, 1993 v125 n13 p19(3).Reed, J.D. It has provenvirtually impossible to produce a human form of AIDS in chimps. Animals great and small share basiccharacteristics with man. This givesus cause to question it from a moral perspective. The FDA haslinked this practice to the spread of food-borne diseases like salmonella.Cows are also cannibals at farm factories, and the disease organisms builtup in the manure and organs are recycled over and over again, ultimatelyinfecting livestock directly in the tissue itself... Animal experimentation is simply not practical. In this age of relative luxury, there is no excuse for fur.Alternative fabrics are just as warm(if not warmer) than fur itself, andfake fur is virtually identical in appearance and texture to the realthing. Human beings all individually possess very different capacities forreason, intelligence, and contemplation. As many as 25 , laying hensare caged in a single building, with beaks and claws cut off so as toprevent injuries. As an example: every year horrificresearch conducted on animals in labs rests solely upon an animal'stendency to choose behavior that will not elicit a painful electric shock-is this not a choice, perhaps the most fundamental choice a living beingcan make? Virtuallyall that is known of HIV has originated in study not of animals, but ofhumans. As we examine some specific areas whereanimals have traditionally been made to suffer the most, we will see thatnot only is each individual instance immoral, but that in many cases animalabuse is also downright impractical. They are tools, and in the case of ratsand mice, are excluded from the very definition of "animal" by theDepartment of Agriculture. These activities constitute a violation of basic animalrights. And calves, of course, are treated at least as cruellyas they are prepped to provide the most tender veal cutlets. Thus, if the moral reasoning is not enough, then surely the socialbacklash against fur should be reason enough to find a practical fashionalternative. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. We are all conscious, feeling beingswith similar core dimensions of life; we all know satisfaction andfrustration, elation and misery, and therefore we are all equal. Human tissueacquired from biopsies and autopsies are increasingly useful. We contend that reasonand necessity govern our behavior. Of the ten honored research studies, only two had used animalexperimentation(Althoff 76). Those of us who acknowledge a Supreme Being tend to believe that He orShe is a benevolent, merciful, and compassionate entity. In the final analysis, animal testing is simply notreliable- scientific advances can be made very successfully without any useof animals in the lab(Althoff 74-77). 34-4 .Singer, Peter. Some of us are brilliant, andsome of us are mentally handicapped. pp. "Cruelty-free Research." Vegetarian Times. On the one hand, acknowledging animalrights is a moral imperative. All animals possess a claim on life and a rightto exist. In the animalkingdom, we humans are autonomous and godlike. Any creature capable ofexperiencing pain will carry with it a vested interest in avoiding thatpain; its life-long mission will be to seek out pain's opposite, pleasure.And in preference, there is choice. 17-24.Ten Eyck, Laura. Dogs, monkeys, rabbits, and rats do not developcarcinomas in ways analogous to humans. An average day! For the vast majority ofhunters, the cost of equipment, permits, and travel exceeds the savingsthey might enjoy from killing their own meat. Many of theseanimals collapse and die prior to the slaughter due to extreme anxiety anddepression. Mathematical models are also being employed as a researchtechnique with favorable results, as are analysis of clinical andepidemiological data. "All Animals Are Equal." Animal Rights: Opposing Viewpoints. When the fur trade is booming, 7 million animals are slain every year. Animal tests,historically, have not predicted side effects in humans up to 52 percent ofthe time. Hunting is similarly confounding- it is an utterlyunnecessary activity. Many are also tormentedpsychologically, as researchers attempt to put them into states termed"reamed helplessness" and "psychological death" by isolating them, or byplacing them in total darkness indefinitely. The most common, mostprolific manifestations of those abuses have been explored in some detailin this speech. So clearly, aside from being utterly immoral, the factory farm abusesalso constitute a health hazard for humans. August 1993 n192 p74(6).Cartmill, Matt. Obviously, the moral implications are devastating, particularlywhen we consider that by and large, history has shown that artificiallyinduced diseases in animals practically never result in a cure that can beused on humans. That theyare vulnerable and can ravaged is precisely what deems them appropriate forstudy. On the other hand, the alternatives toanimal abuse are practical: they are often healthier, safer, and moreinformative for human beings. In 1992, the Harvard Health Letter, published by theHarvard Medical School, listed the top ten medical advances of the yearthat were understood to have the greatest long-range impact on humanhealth. We are the undisputedoccupiers of the top rung of the food chain. Basically, hunting is a netdrain on assets and has no real economic value. Chimpanzees arevivisectioned, repeatedly infected with human diseases like the AIDS virusand cancer, and then are slaughtered and autopsied(Williams 63-64). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc. We must decide where we will be merciful and where we will beruthless, where we will defend and where we will persecute, where we willcommit our attention and where we will be ignorant. Up to 8 percent of Americans now say thatthey believe that animals have rights(Monagie 21). pp. And yet we sacrifice them daily by themillions. We know and experience contentment andjoy, pain and suffering. Cowsare pumped up with steroids and are kept pregnant to ensure largequantities of milk. If they are fortunate, eventually they will have theirheads dragged through electrically-charged water before they aredecapitated(Ten Eyck 133). One mink coat requires the hides of5 minks. "Hunting Animals Is Morally Objectionable." Animal Rights: Opposing Viewpoints. That suffering,from a moral standpoint, can only be viewed as wrong. pp. "The Furor Over Wearing Furs: Assailed By Animal Rightists, Many Women Face A Difficult Choice." Time. Guinea pigs die once they have been injected with penicillin.Cats die from aspirin. And ultimately, the capacity to reason and contemplate is introducedby anti-animal rights activists as a proof that animals do not understandtheir own interests, that they are incapable of making rational choices ashumans do. Animals should no longer be farmedfor their meat and by-products. Thus, animal abuse is againproven an impractical habit. If we are to consider ourselves worthy of our elevated position innature, we must acknowledge and protect the rights of the animal kingdom.Animals, like humans, deserve to live a life free of suffering and thethreat of wanton slaughter. And these figures exclude the hoards of rats, mice,dogs, cats, and primates that are brutally tortured until death in researchlabs across the country. Our moral structure commands of us that we notinflict suffering upon those who are innocent. The alternatives to animal testing, on the other hand, are provingmuch more accurate than people had originally assumed. pp. This quote sheds light on theargument for animal rights: If we inflict suffering anywhere, in any form,we must be held morally accountable for that suffering. In the early 9 s, women wearing fur coatswere doused with red paint and railed with insults, and many celebritiesincluding Princess Diana took up the cause for fur-prevention(Reed 72).And by 199 , 63 percent of Americans polled said that fur coats should beillegal(Monagie 2 ). ANIMAL RIGHTS: THE EVOLUTION OF MORALITY As human beings, we are masters of our domain. Similarly, animals are cruelly tortured as they are readied forslaughter at commercial factory farms. In modern times we are in a unique position to accept therights of the animal kingdom. Surely, no form of genocide undertaken in humanhistory can match these numbers. However, the argument for animal rights shows the fallacy in thisidea. And if we undertake to deprive a being capable of experiencingpleasure of the opportunity of achieving it, then we are betraying the verybasis of our own moral standards(Singer 22-24). Animalsshould no longer be hunted for sport. Pigs areraised in concrete pens and are often slain while still conscious. Torturingthese creatures, it seems, truly benefits no one, least of all the animalswho must endure the torments. We all have a sense of home and whatconstitutes a suitable habitat. If these creatures couldnot suffer, they would simply be of no value to the researchers. It is an unabashedly inhumane process(Williams 63). Dogs and cats aredecerebrated, blinded, poisoned and burned. Our scientists routinely mutilate all sorts ofcreatures- more than 17 million of them each year. The moral rationale behind animal rights extends to each and everycase in which animals are abused. At present, on an average day in the United States, 13 , cattle,7, calves, 36 , pigs, and 24 million chickens are killed(Williams65). August 1997 v294 n1767 p6 (8). WORKS CITEDAlthoff, Susanne. None of these methods involve animals at all, butrather the prolonged study of humans who are already afflicted with thedisease in question. The argument for animal rights functions on two levels, the morallevel and the practical level.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
Click here to request an essay written just for you.
|
|
|
