Animal rights

Thank you Con for your argument based on philosophy from Mercer, Kalin and Naryeson. My argument is based, not on philosophy, but from a scientific vantage point. In addition to Rights, the title of this debate, Con made reference to “Moral Reasoning.” From a scientific vantage point, Morality is an outgrowth of Unalienable Rights, which is an outgrowth of the Constructal Law, which is an outgrowth of the Laws of Thermodynamics. Therefore, morality is a derivative of the physical Laws of Nature, a departure from classical philosophical concepts. http://www.amazon.com... http://www.amazon.com...Please bear with me as we take a journey following the traceability path from Thermodynamics (moments after the Big Bang) to Morality. The Laws of Thermodynamics deals with the direction of energy flow. Constructal Law deals with patterns and systems generated by this energy flow as a function of optimization relative to resistance, in the evolution of biology, physics, technology and social organization. At the biological level, there is a bio-program common to all life, once inanimate matter becomes alive, “Life,” must have the freedom (“Liberty” in the optimization relative to resistance), in “the pursuit (energy flow) of” survival; otherwise, there is no life. Since we have life, survival is a form of positive-feedback and a prerequisite for human “Happiness.” Hence, Thomas Jefferson's discovery, which he declared “self-evident” and used the label “Unalienable Rights” representing a polished version of this bio-program in his following celebrated statement, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (http://www.constitution.org...).The following is a video overview of the Constructal Law:http://www.youtube.com...Continuing with our journey, morality is an outgrowth of life's Unalienable Rights in group formation. The binary values of morality is Right (moral) or Wrong (immoral). The objective of morality is doing Right keeping a group alive. That is, when two or more humans form a group, the group becomes alive. The life of the group is sustained through goodwill and kindness leads to a mutual moral respect for embracing the Unalienable Rights of the members within the group. Goodwill promotes order, stability, and harmony through the pursuit of group-wide positive feedback. Over time, group-wide positive feedback is the genesis of traditions, social values, beliefs, language, etc, the norms of society. These norms are tried and tested, and conservatively pass down from one generation to the next establishing its culture. A moral order guides an individual in the prudent exercise of judgment relative to those norms, going with the social flow minimizing civil resistance (Constructal Law). A moral individual in a civil society strives, albeit imperfectly, to be virtuous; that is, restrained, ethical, and honorable, respecting and embracing the Unalienable Rights of others relative to those tested norms. The empirical evidence of the diversity of language, beliefs, and social norms throughout history and today demonstrates morality is the thread that runs through the tapestry in group formation. Con made reference to Kalin. Since philosophers are trap within the matrix of the Laws of Nature, it should be no surprise to finds symmetry within their philosophy relative to morality and the “nature of happiness” (Unalienable Rights) in group formation. Jesse Kalin stated the following (http://uwch-4.humanities.washington.edu...):“The first kind of appeal argues that moral relations are more valuable than the special interests that separate people. To think otherwise is to be seriously mistaken as to the nature of happiness and personal welfare, and thus as to where one's true interests lie. A life without moral relations is an impoverished life, one which no wise man would choose if he could safely avoid it. It is, for instance, a life without friends or family in the important sense of these terms.” Again, morality simply refers to the binary state of Right or Wrong. These states generate mutual positive- or negative-feedback, relative to the Unalienable Rights of another. Mutual positive-feedback, in group creation, is found throughout the symphony of life, to name a few, in the beneficial formation in schools of fish, flocks of birds, packs of wolves, tribes of humans, and in addition, inter-specie relationships, such as those between humans and their pets.The opening paragraph on the definition of morality from Stanford University's Encyclopedia of Philosophy, supports the symmetry of morality found in “non-humans.” Therefore, morality was around before philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu...): “What “morality” is taken to refer to plays a crucial, although often unacknowledged, role in formulating ethical theories. To take “morality” to refer to an actually existing code of conduct put forward by a society results in a denial that there is a universal morality, one that applies to all human beings. This descriptive use of “morality”is the one used by anthropologists when they report on the morality of the societies that they study. Recently, some comparative and evolutionary psychologists (Haidt, Hauser, De Waal) have taken morality, or a close anticipation of it, to be present among groups of non-human animals, primarily other primates but not limited to them. “Morality” has also been taken to refer to any code of conduct that a person or group takes as most important.”Morality, an outgrowth of Unalienable Rights, transcends human nature; therefore, all animals have Rights.