Question

Let’s discuss animal rights. Look over the written lecture under the Environmental Ethics section and the related material which raises the issues of "non-human animals" and whether they have rights. What, in this deontological week and in our learning to date, informs our understanding of this situation, and what do you suggest, applying this week's theories, should be done about animal rights within a world dominated by humans?

Answer 1

This world is made-up of all the creatures who complement each other in stabilizing the earth and all it holds. So, in a typical view, all the creatures not just humans play an equal role thus deserve equal treatment. In reality it’s far from the truth that humans started exploiting all the other creatures through their technology and cruelty in order to satisfy their greed. Any ethical theory would oppose the actions of the human beings.

Deontological ethics suggests that no matter what happens one should fulfil one’s duty following the rules. Here, all the human beings have a moral and environmental duty to protect the environment, especially the non-human animals that help the environment with its stability. Most of the time rules were either made in favour of human beings or they were ignored with a hope to settle the rulers. So, in my opinion, everyone has the moral responsibility and duty to protect the non-human animals.

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