lecture 7/3/01  

Rights: Human & Animal

• What are Rights?
  • Moral Rights
    • a justified claim on on others
    • justified by moral principles (rules, standards)
      • where do moral principles come from?
  • Legal Rights
    • also a justified claim on on others
    • justified by legal principles
      • where do legal principles come from?
    • Do Moral Rights = Legal Rights?
  • Natural Rights
    • Where do they come from?
    • Hobbes: Locke: State of Nature = State of War
      The right of nature, which writers commonly call ius naturale, is the liberty each man has to use his own power as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature, that is to say, of his own life, and consequently of doing anything which, in his own judgment and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto. [Leviathan, Ch. 14]
    • Locke: State of Nature ≠ State of War
      The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions [Second Treatise of Government, 2:6]
  • Unalienable Rights
    • Declaration of Independence
      We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
  • Positive Rights (welfare)
  • Negative Rights (non-interference)
  • Kant's Principle
    • Obligation to treat humanity as an end, not as means
    • Does Kant's Principle apply to Animals?
• Do Animals have Rights?
  • Yes
    • Animls demonstrate intelligence
    • Animals have a capacity to suffer
    • Speciesism is unwarrented
    • We have an obligation to Animals
  • No
    • Humans are far more intelligent than animals
    • People are more valuable than animals
      • A human life has far more potential than an animal's
    • Speciesism is a fact of nature
    • What about plants?
  
  
  
• How to study philosophy
  • Close reading of text before and after class
  • Make outlines of key points
  • Diagram arguments
  • Ask questions