Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Human/Non-Human Animals
Humans are animals! I dont see how we can seperate human animals from non-human animals, it just doesn't sound right to me. Instead I would like to use the terms moral patients/moral agents (the moral agents in this case being "human animals" and the moral patients being the "non-human animals"). Moral agents are no better than moral patients in any type of way. The only thing that distinguishes us from them is the fact that we have an advantage. We still eat other animals, for the most part, and we still do what we need to do to survive. Some may think that it is pure cruelty, the way we treat moral patients as far as hunting and consuming, but its all happens the way it was supposed to happen. Certain species thrive on other species in order to survive. Its literally the circle of life. I'm not saying its right but it's what we know and its how we live. Human animals are the same as non-human animals, we just have a larger population. If there were as many lions as there are humans, I'm pretty sure we wouldnt be the dominating creatures in any environment.
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I disagree with the statement that we are no different from non-human animals. There are many more things besides having an advantage that distinguish us from animals, including physical attributes, verbal language, display of emotions, and mental capacity. Although it may not seem morally correct at some times, there does exist a sense of speciesism in our world today. Peter Singer points this out by saying "Perhaps the area in which speciesism can most clearly be defined is the use of animals in experiments"(40). The result of this is a clear separation between human and non human animals.
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