PHILOS 5 Lecture Notes - Sentience
Document Summary
Revisiting regan: recall: regan argues that it is wrong to eat and kill animals because they have rights, animals, he believes, are experiencing subjects of a life, and so have inherent value and the right to life, all animals that experience life have this right equally, so it is as wrong to kill a fish as to kill a cow. Peter singer: living defender of utilitarianism, animal liberation, believes that it is wrong to kill and eat animals, believes that these are wrong because they violate animals" rights, believes that animals have rights because they are sentient, sentient: the capacity to suffer or experience enjoyment or happiness, the ability to feel pleasure and pain, believes that sentience is a morally relevant characteristic of living beings, when something has the ability to feel pleasure and pain, you have to take care of it and care about it.
