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I found this post on a philosophy forum and thought it was an interesting argument. Does anyone have an argument AGAINST it?
1. Despite obvious differences between human and nonhuman animals, we share a capacity to suffer, and this means that they, like us have interests in not suffering. If we ignore or discount their interests simply on the grounds that they are not of the same species, the logic of our position is similar to that of the racist or sexist - he who thinks that to be white or male is to be inherently superior in moral status, irrespective of other qualities and characteristics.
Some humans - infants and those with severe intellectual disabilities - have less ability to reason and less self-awareness than some nonhuman animals. So we cannot justifiably use these criteria to draw a distinction between all humans on the one hand and all nonhuman animals on the other.
2007-09-06
15:40:03
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5 answers
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asked by
bob135
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Philosophy