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Single Idea 3730

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / F. Life Issues / 6. Animal Rights ]

Full Idea

Beings whose existence depends not on our will but on nature have, if they are non-rational beings, only a relative value as means and are consequently called 'things' (rather than 'persons').

Gist of Idea

Non-rational beings only have a relative value, as means rather than as ends

Source

Immanuel Kant (Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals [1785], 428.65)

Book Ref

Kant,Immanuel: 'The Moral Law (Groundwork of Morals)', ed/tr. Paton,H.J. [Hutchinson 1948], p.91

A Reaction

Ugh. Is there nothing in between 'persons' and 'things'? How about a deeply comatose human, or an embryo? It is a gross distortion to think of a chimpanzee as a 'thing'.

The 33 ideas with the same theme [society's attitude to how animals are treated]:

8236 Avoid the animals you are going to eat, as it is hard once you have got to know them [Mengzi (Mencius)]
6005 Animals are dangerous and nourishing, and can't form contracts of justice [Hermarchus, by Sedley]
20857 Justice is irrelevant to animals, because they are too unlike us [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius]
1779 We don't have obligations to animals as they aren't like us [Chrysippus, by Diog. Laertius]
1868 The world was made as much for animals as for man [Celsus]
17215 Animals feel, but that doesn't mean we can't use them for our pleasure and profit [Spinoza]
19753 Both men and animals are sentient, which should give the latter the right not to be mistreated [Rousseau]
3730 Non-rational beings only have a relative value, as means rather than as ends [Kant]
21423 Men can only have duties to those who qualify as persons [Kant]
21424 Cruelty to animals is bad because it dulls our empathy for pain in humans [Kant]
20280 Large mature animals are more rational than babies. But all that really matters is - can they suffer? [Bentham]
21376 Philosophy treats animals as exploitable things, ignoring the significance of their lives [Schopenhauer]
14882 Protest against vivisection - living things should not become objects of scientific investigation [Nietzsche]
5915 Rights can be justly claimed, so animals have no rights, as they cannot claim any [Ross]
4133 Speciesism isn't like racism, because the former implies a viewpoint which belongs to no one [Williams,B]
20283 Killing a chimp is worse than killing a human too defective to be a person [Singer]
21022 The Capabilities Approach sees animals as agents, not just as having feelings [Nussbaum]
21023 We should respect animals in the way that we respect the animal nature in humans [Nussbaum]
21024 It may be no harm to kill an animal which cannot plan for its future [Nussbaum]
4295 We favour our own animals over foreign ones because we see them as fellow citizens [Scruton]
4296 Brutal animal sports are banned because they harm the personality of the watcher [Scruton]
4263 Many of the stranger forms of life (e.g. worms) interest us only as a species, not as individuals [Scruton]
4268 Animals command our sympathy and moral concern initially because of their intentionality [Scruton]
4276 An animal has individuality if it is nameable, and advanced animals can respond to their name [Scruton]
4277 I may avoid stepping on a spider or flower, but fellow-feeling makes me protect a rabbit [Scruton]
4278 Lucky animals are eaten by large predators, the less lucky starve, and worst is death by small predators [Scruton]
4279 We can easily remove the risk of suffering from an animal's life, but we shouldn't do it [Scruton]
4288 Many breeds of animals have needs which our own ancestors planted in them [Scruton]
4289 Sheep and cattle live comfortable lives, and die an enviably easy death [Scruton]
4292 Concern for one animal may harm the species, if the individual is part of a bigger problem [Scruton]
4291 Letting your dog kill wild rats, and keeping rats for your dog to kill, are very different [Scruton]
4293 Introducing a natural means of controlling animal population may not be very compassionate [Scruton]
4294 Animals are outside the community of rights, but we still have duties towards them [Scruton]