TY - JOUR
T1 - Why Speciesism is Wrong
T2 - A Response to Kagan
AU - Singer, Peter
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Society for Applied Philosophy.
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - In Animal Liberation I argued that we commonly ignore or discount the interests of sentient members of other species merely because they are not human, and that this bias in favour of members of our own species is, in important respects, parallel to the biases that lie behind racism and sexism. Shelly Kagan, in 'What's Wrong With Speciesism' misconstrues this argument, as well as the principle of equal consideration of interests, which I offer as an alternative to speciesism. Kagan also offers, as an alternative explanation of, and possible justification for, our discounting the interests of nonhuman animals, the suggestion that your interests count more if you are a member of a species whose typical adult members are persons. Although this view is not a form of speciesism, Kagan seems not to be aware of the fact that it is a view commonly defended by advocates of natural law ethics, on which there is already an extensive critical literature.
AB - In Animal Liberation I argued that we commonly ignore or discount the interests of sentient members of other species merely because they are not human, and that this bias in favour of members of our own species is, in important respects, parallel to the biases that lie behind racism and sexism. Shelly Kagan, in 'What's Wrong With Speciesism' misconstrues this argument, as well as the principle of equal consideration of interests, which I offer as an alternative to speciesism. Kagan also offers, as an alternative explanation of, and possible justification for, our discounting the interests of nonhuman animals, the suggestion that your interests count more if you are a member of a species whose typical adult members are persons. Although this view is not a form of speciesism, Kagan seems not to be aware of the fact that it is a view commonly defended by advocates of natural law ethics, on which there is already an extensive critical literature.
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U2 - 10.1111/japp.12165
DO - 10.1111/japp.12165
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84958770053
SN - 0264-3758
VL - 33
SP - 31
EP - 35
JO - Journal of Applied Philosophy
JF - Journal of Applied Philosophy
IS - 1
ER -