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Moral Contemporary Problems 6/17/08 ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL: The Principle of Equality 1. In determining the morality of a proposed action, we must consider not just our own interests, but also the interest of other beings. 2. Which beings are to be included among those whose interests we must consider, and what weight should we give to their respective interests? a. Singer: We must equally consider the interest of all beings that have any interests at all are affected by the proposed action. b. This includes certain animals. 3. 4 Formulations of the Basic Principle of Equality a. Bentham: "Each to count for one and none for more than one" (479) b. Sidgwick: "The good of any one individual is of no more importance, from the point of view (if I may so say so) of the Universe, than the good of any other." (479-480) c. Singer: "The interest of every being affected by an action are to be taken in account and given the same weight as the like interests of any other being." d. Timmons: "The interests of all beings who will be affected by an action or a practice..." 4. Does the principle of equality say that all beings with interests must be treated equally, or that they have the same rights? a. This would make the principle implausible. It often seems appropriate to draw distinctions between what rights different kinds of beings have: i. Arguably, men and women have the right to vote, but dogs do not have the right to vote. (478) ii. Women have the right to an abortion, but men do not have a right to an abortion. (478) 5. IF we want to think that different beings have different rights and should be treated differently, must we reject the principle of equality? a. No, "the basic POE does not require equal treatment; it requires equal considerations. b. "Concern for the well-being of children growing up in America would require that we teach them to read." (480) c. "Concern for the well being of pigs may require no more than that we leave them with other pigs in a place where there is adequate food and room to run freely." (480) 6. How does singer argue for the correctness of the POE? a. He observes that sexism and racism are morally wrong. b. He then claims that the wrongness of sexism and racism crucially rests on an appeal to the POE. c. Racism is wrong is wrong because the racist refuses to give equal consideration to the interests of the members races other than his own; and sexism is wrong because the sexist refuses to five equal consideration to the interests of members of the other sex. d. If we want to be on firm grounds in maintaining that sexism and racism are morally wrong, we must accept the POE. 7. Could we perhaps explain the wrongness of sexism and racism without accepting the POE? a. A conceivable explanation of the wrongness of sexism that does not mention the principle of equality: i. "Men and woman are similar beings and therefore should have similar rights..." (478) ii. For example, "women have a right to vote because they are just as capable of making rational decisions about the future as men are." (478) iii. ("Dogs on the other hand, are incapable of understanding the significance of voting, so they cannot have the right to vote. (478)) b. The explanation seeks to est. the wrongness of sexism on the basis that men and women are as a matter of fact, equal (i.e. similar) in relevant respects; hence they are to be accorded the same right, and sexism is wrong. c. Similarly, one could try to argue that members of different races are as a matter of fact equal (i.e. similar) in all relevant respects; hence they out to be accorded the same right, and racism is wrong. 8. Singer thinks that this kind of argument is too weak: a. "If the demand for equality were based on the actual of all human beings, we would have to stop demanding equality." (478-479) b. Why? Because human beings, considered individually, are not actually in the relevant respects: "Humans come in different shapes and sizes; they come with different moral capacities, different intellectual abilities, different amount of benevolent feeling and sensitivity to the needs of others, different abilities to communicate..." (478) c. Since human beings, taken individually, are not in fact equal in the relevant respects, we cannot argue that their interests... 9. One might try an improved version of the argument from actual similarity: a. "Although humans differ as individuals, there are no differences between the races and sexes as such. From the..." (479) 10. But Singer has 2 objections a. First, if we base our objection against anti-egalitarianism on actual equality, we won't be able to object to the following. Give everyone an IQ test, everyone below 100 will be slaves, and above will be masters. b. Second, as far as actual abilities are concerned, there do seem to be a certain measureable differences both among races and between sexes. The differences would be environmental, and maybe not genetic. The opponent of racism who take this line will be unable to avoid conceding that I differences in ability did after prove all to have some genetic connection with race, racism would in fact in some way be defensible. (479) c. Instead, Singer thinks that we must make the case against sexism and racism by affirming the principle of equality, and noting that it applies regardless of features like, intelligence, moral capacity, etc." d. The POE of human beings is not a description of an alleged actual equality among humans; it is a prescription of how we should treat human beings." (479) e. Hence, Singer thinks, we must accept the POE if we are to have firm grounds for rejecting racism and sexism. 11. How far does the POE extend? In determining the morality of an action, must we equally take into consideration the interest of trees? Or pebbles? a. No, we don't. Why not? i. Wrong Explanation: Lack characteristics that would have made their interests relevant, like intelligence, they interests would have mattered. ii. Right Explanation: Because pebbles simply are not the sort of things that have interests at all. b. If a being has interests at all, then its interests must be considered just as much as the interests of any other. No being that has interests must be excluded from equal consideration. 12. When should we say that a being has any interests? a. Singer: A being has interests if and only if that being has a capacity for suffering or enjoyment. b. "The capacity for suffering and enjoyment is a prerequisite for having interests at all." (481) c. "No matter what the nature of the being, the POW requires that its suffering be counted equally...If being is not capable of suffering or of experiencing enjoyment of happiness, there I nothing to be taken into account." (481) d. "So the limit of sentience...is the only defensible boundary of concern for the interests of other. To mark this boundary by some other characteristic like intelligence or rationality would be to make it in an arbitrary manner. Why not choose some other characteristic, like skin color?" (481) 13. Singer draws a parallel between three ways of violating the POE a. Racisms b. Sexism c. Specieism i. "The practice of experimenting on nonhuman animals as it exists today throughout the world reveals the consequences of speciesism." (482) ii. Defenders do not deny that they do not suffer, for the results to be applicable the animals have to be similar to humans (i.e. similar nervous system). 14. "The practice of experimenting on nonhuman animals as it exists today throughout the world reveals the consequences of speciesism." (482) a. Singer cites official estimates according to which the animals used in experiments in the U.S. each year is in the tens of millions. b. "For commercial purposes, to test new cosmetics, etc." c. "Do not deny that the animals suffer." 15. When are experiments on animals justifiable? a. Singer thinks that we cannot simply say "never." An experimenter could in response propose a hypothetical situation in which thousands of human lives could be saved by a single experiment on a single animal. b. "If a single experiment could cure leukemia, that experiment would be justifiable." (484) c. Singer proposes a test: "Whenever experimenters claim that their experiments are important enough to justify the use of animals, we should ask them whether they would be prepared to use a brain-damaged human (infant) at a similar mental level to the animals they are planning to use." (484) d. "If the experimenters would not be prepared to use an human infant then their readiness to use nonhuman animals reveals an unjustifiable form of discrimination on the basis of species, since adult apes, monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, and other animals are more aware of what is happening to them, more selfdirecting, and, so far as we can tell, at least as sensitive to pain as a human infant." (483) e. "So far as we know, human infants possess no morally relevant characteristics to a higher degree than adult nonhuman animals unless we are to count the infants' potential as a characteristic that makes it wrong to experiment on them...To avoid the complexities of this issue, we can assume that the infant is one with irreversible brain damage so severe as to rule out any mental development beyond the level of a six month-old infant." (483) f. But Singer thinks that the use of brain-damaged human infants for the sort of experiments in question is obviously beyond the pale: i. "I cannot imagine that anyone would seriously propose carrying out the experiments described in this chapter on brain-damaged human beings." (484) ii. Hence, Singer think that the use of animals in these experiments is morally unacceptable. iii. (Appeal) "We are in the midst of an emergency in which appalling suffering is being inflicted on millions of animals for the purposes that on any impartial view are obviously inadequate to justify the suffering. When we have ceased to carry out all those experiments, then there will be time enough to discuss what to do about the remaining ones which are claimed to be essential to save lives or prevent greater suffering..." (484)

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