PHIL224 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Speciesism, Egalitarianism
27 May 2016
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We should take in account psychological capacity and level of interests. Peter singer is arguing that non-human animals have interests and that they need to be taken into account alongside human interests. If both animals and humans need food, a rat starving and a baby starving is unweighable. His approach; how do we solve these conflict that people and animals have and how do we find the best moral action. Basic interests; what is needed for minimally adequate functioning to survive; food, air, freedom from pain etc. Peripheral interests; what is needed for optimal experience, thriving; toys, materialism. With the different kinds of interests in hand, we can start to make a sense of different judgment based on the positions (1) radical speciesism: animals have no interest. We can do whatever we want to any animal. Allows animal abuse; since they do not have any intrinsic values. (2) extreme speciesism: although animals have interest, only human interests matter.
