Post #9 - Peter Singer

Peter Singer is a modern day Australian philosopher who studies applied ethics. He believes that ethics is something that matters. It affects your life in an everyday manner from how you act to what you eat. He is a utilitarianist; therefore, he is interested in minimizing and eliminating pain and suffering from all living beings. Singer is a preference utilitarianist who defines a morally right action to be one that produces the most favorable consequences for all the people who are involved. Preference utilitarianists believe that every person’s experience of satisfaction is unique; therefore, such ethical issues as abortion and euthanasia are not clear cut.

Singer’s views on animal-rights started after a lunch with a fellow classmate who was a vegetarian. He does not like using another group of living beings in a certain way just for us to use. Why is it that we don’t lock humans up in crates, in dark spaces, just for food? The PETA video defined speciesism as the assumption that humans are superior to other species or to dominate other species. Singer believes that speciesism is like racism where a dominant group which has the power to exploit an inferior group. This group also gives itself all the valuables and denies the other group of the same values. He believes that we should not allow or cause suffering at any other species. He argues that all beings with interests are entitled to equal consideration to what you would give to someone from your own species. Singer explains that when it comes to morals you should put yourself in the position of the other person being affected and the people surrounding this person. Then weigh your options and make your moral decision from there. Singer also points out that you can not discriminate against something based on the idea that it has wings or because it has fur no more than discriminating based on skin color or sex. He also argued that we are not superior to animals just because we are more intelligent. There are human beings who are considerably less intelligent because of mental disorders, but we still treat them as humans.

The PETA video also quoted Charles Darwin by saying “Emotions and faculties such as love, memory, curiosity, and reason may be found well developed in animals.” It makes sense that Darwin would be saying something like this because he is the first one who proposed the idea of biological evolution. In David Lane’s essay, The Central Nervous System, he gives a neuro-evolutionary argument for vegetarianism. He explained that we are able to feel pain because we have a central nervous system which oversees what our bodies feel and directs how our bodies will react. Lane believes that we do not eat other humans because we can empathize with their pain. Since we do not see our dinner being killed right in front of us, we do not emphasize with these animals. He also points out that we do not eat animals like dolphins and apes because we can empathize with them since they are animals with higher intelligence. Lane argues that we do not need to eat animals to have a substantial diet, therefore, we shouldn’t eat anything that has a central nervous system and can feel pain.

Singer focused on the aspect of speciesism, whereas, Lane focused on the neuro-evolutionary aspect of eating animals. Lane tried to appeal to our emotions by offering emotional examples like someone coming over to your house and eating your husband, dog, or apple. He tries to argue that there is no need for eating animals because our diet/health is fine without meat. Lane also brings up the fact that a vegetarian diet is a better health and economic choice for our civilized society. Lane finishes his essay with the topic of animal testing. He is against animal testing for the same reasons Singer is, we shouldn’t test anything on animals that we wouldn’t test on humans first. Animals have a central nervous system and can feel pain the same way we can, so we shouldn’t feel superior to them and use them for our benefit. It seems like Lane has more of a religious reason for not eating meat, seeing that he is a Hindu. Singer’s position is from a utilitarian point of view, as in, he is condoning the elimination of pain and suffering from this world.