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by clex flies like an eagle on August 27th, 2009

clex flies like an eagle

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Who says animals dont have rights

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  • by The Chief on August 27th, 2009

    The Chief

    “Rights”, as you are referring to, is an abstract idea or concept that is granted to individuals by a governing body, tradition, or nature. Furthermore, for something to be considered a “right”, it must apply equally to all, or it’s not a right: it’s a privilege for a certain few.

    The abstract concept of “rights” is purely human. Animals do not have the same worldview that humans do, so our ideology on this subject is meaningless to them. Animal behavior is entirely subject to instinctive behavior, which is governed by their animal nature.

    Humans are not solely governed by instinctive behavior. Humans have an ability to define additional concepts such as “right and wrong”, for example. This is an abstract, cognitive ability which enables humans to act in fashions which are NOT wholly instinctive.

    Animals do not have the ability to think in such abstract concepts. A lion, for example, does not have a concept of “right or wrong” with respect to whether or not it is OK to chase down a young gazelle, kill it by crushing it’s throat, and then rip it’s guts open and feed. It does not think in abstract concepts such as a gazelle’s “right” not to be chased down in a terrifying manner and have it’s throat ripped out just to satisfy the lion’s hunger. The lion only knows that the gazelle is prey which it can kill and eat. It’s worldview does NOT encompass the human concept of “rights”.

    Now, that said, within the human world animals ONLY have the rights WE confer to them. And those ‘rights’ are STILL not universal. Why? Because in the human world, for something to be a right, it MUST apply to all equally.

    This means if you were to actually apply, say, the concept of an individual’s right to live their life without fear of being tortured or killed by another to the animal kingdom, this would mean that the lion CANNOT legally kill the gazelle now. Why? Because this would interfere with the gazelle’s ‘right’ to live it’s life without fear of being chased down, having it’s life taken by a brutal act of violent suffocation, and then eaten…possibly while it’s still alive, in fact.

    It ALSO means that if you caught a lion doing such a thing, it would be subject to the legal punishments provided under law if convicted of an act of murder.

    Animals do NOT have the SAME rights as humans…because the human concept of rights are not meant, indeed they are not even applicable, to animal behavior.

    For animals, only nature and instinct define what their rights are. It is in the nature of predators to hunt and kill prey. It is in the nature of herbivores to consume plant life, not animal life. In nature, whether an animal is acting right or wrong boils down to survival or no survival. The lion who cannot kill a gazelle for food will die. The gazelle who cannot outrun the lion will die.

    So, in conclusion, animals SO have rights. They just don’t have the SAME rights that HUMANS have, because they CANNOT have those same rights by their very nature.

    Comments

    • WOW Chief that was profound!!
      i thought it was the right time to learn more about others views as i am pro pro pro pro animals being allowed to live naturally with the right to not be abused by humans.
      the question is the name of a profound book so you may like it by jean ure.
      i agree with all you said i think
      if you like animals a lot you should watch
      earthlings the documentary with joaquin phoenix: also profound..
      thankyou for taking such an effort to explain your measured views on tthe topic much appreciated and you clearly have a strong sense of right and wrong which is admirable in todays "world" :)

      clex flies like an eagle

      by clex flies like an eagle on August 27th, 2009

    • Thank you, clex86!
      .
      If I get the chance, I'll look up the book.
      .
      :):):)

      The Chief

      by The Chief on August 27th, 2009

    • Interesting.
      .
      I went to Jean Ure's website, to check out her books. And it wasn't listed there.
      http://www.jeanure.com/about.html
      .
      So I googled the book and found it on another website, which turns out to be FAR more complete than her personal website! Interesting!
      http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/u/jean-ure/
      .
      At any rate, I don't see the book in the local public library database. I may have to see if they will order it!

      The Chief

      by The Chief on August 27th, 2009

    • No offence but this essay merely splits hairs over the application of rights within the non-human sphere and (alomost entirely) ignores the essential underlying question of how humans treat animals and whether animal welfare needs to be elevated. A linguistic look at the word rights and it's implication within the non-human world isn't very useful when addressing the ethics of how we humans treat animals. Not every AB question is perfectly phrased and forgive me if I'm wrong but this question raises the point of the elevation of animal welfare re. human treatment of animals, (hence the concept of rights entering the frame).

      Who Is She

      by Who Is She on October 12th, 2009

    • No offense taken, Who is She.
      .
      My point is that the CONCEPT of "rights" is a HUMAN one. Animals have no such thing and are not capable of understanding it.
      .
      Certainly, how we treat animals reflects upon us, as humans. But ONLY to us.

      The Chief

      by The Chief on October 12th, 2009

    • Sure, nobody was implying animals should be giving each other rights. Any animal rights question is quite obviously about human treatment of other species.

      Who Is She

      by Who Is She on October 13th, 2009

    • :):)

      The Chief

      by The Chief on October 13th, 2009

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