Challenge: Animals Also Feel Pain and Suffer
Today’s objection (from a veganism site) challenges us not to discriminate against non-human animals, and it gets right to the heart of human rights: What makes human beings valuable?
The most common manifestation of speciesist discrimination is moral anthropocentrism, which is the devaluation of the interests of those who don’t belong to the human species….
The lives and experiences of nonhuman animals are usually considered less important than those of human beings simply because they are not like humans. Yet nonhuman animals have emotional lives and feel pain, pleasure, fear and joy. Devaluing their lives simply because they don’t have some characteristics that most humans have is discrimination.
Every characteristic and circumstance that is used to discriminate against nonhuman animals — such as lack of rationality, language ability, social connections — also applies to some humans. Yet we don’t use those things to measure the worth of humans. Adult humans who can reason, infants, the cognitively disabled and orphans are all considered equally valuable. The reason we try not to harm other humans is because they can feel and suffer.
What do you think? Why should even the most helpless human be considered more valuable than a high-functioning primate? Answer this challenge in the comments below, and then Alan will post his answer on Thursday.
