March Beginners Tournament: Animal Rights

Let me begin my arguments supporting animal rights. SufferingSuffering is defined as "the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship. " [1] Pain, a primary aspect of suffering, is defined as "a highly unpleasant physical sensation caused by illness or injury. " [2] Based on the basic aspects of ethics, all beings have a right against unnecessary suffering and pain. Exploitation of animals for human purposes viz. by hunting, ritual slaughter, slaughter for meat, etc. causes animals unnecessary suffering. Why should animals be denied this basic moral right? Morality and ethics were created for the survival of the moral community. The Golden Rule of ethics states this: "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. " [3] Why are animals not ascribed into the moral community? By the definition of this debate, animals can suffer physically ["feel pain"] and emotionally [sentience]. To subject any being through needless pain is unjust. Let me conclude this contention thus:P1: There is a generic right against needless suffering. P2: Animals can needlessly suffer. C1: Therefore, animals have a right against needless suffering. Now, the obvious question here is paraphrased: how is the suffering suffered by animals in the hands of humans "needless"? Hunting can be discounted directly as it serves the sole purpose of sadistic human entertainment, as can ritual slaughter as it is illogical. [Here I refer to animal sacrifice which serves no purpose of consumption, etc. ] The usage of animals for fur, silk, leather, down, et cetera are also illogical and not necessary. There are faux furs to help keep warm; silk, leather, and down serve no purpose except comfort. So we are lead to consumption. According to the American Academy of Nutrition and Diatetics, "It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. " [4] The most common cited necessary nutrients "not found in vegetarian diets" are Omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin B12. Collard greens, leafy greens, tempeh, and tofu all contain Vitamin B12. [5] Walnuts, edible seeds, and flaxseed oil all contain Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. [6] Therefore, nutritionally, a vegetarian diet is adequate for living and it is illogically unethical to force a sentient creature to suffer for entertainment (i. e. hunting, Spanish bullfights, eating meat for taste preferences). That is, technically, sadism. Sadism is defined as "the tendency to derive pleasure from inflicting pain, suffering, or humiliation. " [7] The next major standpoint for animal exploitation: animal testing. Animal testing is not reliable. "A 2004 study from the [FDA] found that 92 percent of drugs entering clinical trials following animal testing fail to be approved. Of those approved, half are withdrawn or relabeled due to severe or lethal adverse effects not detected during animal tests. .. A 2008 study in the journal Alternatives to Laboratory Animals showed that more than 80 HIV/AIDS vaccines successful in nonhuman primates failed in human trials. According to a 2004 study. .. more than 4,000 studies report efficacy of more than 700 treatments of stroke in animal models. Yet none of the approximately 150 of these treatments tested in humans showed clinical benefit. .. Drugs intended to reduce inflammation in critically ill patients, previously tested in mice, failed in nearly 150 human critical trials according to a 2013 study. " [8] For an unreliable means of testing, we cannot subject animals to suffering and death. Rationality and DifferentiationEthical human rights apply equally to mature, rational thinking adults, infants, adolescents, and the profoundly mentally handicapped. The mentally disabled and infants have equal capability to think rationally as animals, perhaps even less. As they beget moral and ethical rights, animals also deserve to be treated with compassion and to remain free of cruel and unfair exploitation. The argument is as follows:P1: Moral rights should be ascribed to all sentient beings equally, viz. infants and the mentally handicapped have equal moral and ethical rights as able-thinking adults. P2: Animals are sentient beings. C1: Therefore, moral rights should be ascribed to animals. UtilitarianismBy the theory of utilitarianism, moral action maximizes utility. According to Jeremy Bentham, one of the founders of the ideas of utilitarianism, in regards to a beings right to ethical treatment, "The question is not 'Can they talk? ', nor 'Can they reason? ', but 'Can they suffer? '" [9] This is true in terms of ethical justification. As seen above, rational/logical thinking is not the primary criterion for the ascription of moral rights; rather, it is the level of physical and emotional sentience. However weak the sentience might be, any form of unnecessary suffering is not justified. And being discriminative by species, i. e. speciesist [10], is still a form of prejudice and is therefore regarded as unfair (see the debate's definition of "fairness"). ConclusionAnimals deserve to be free of human exploitation and to be guaranteed ethical treatment. "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. " -- Gandhi, Mohandas K. ["Mahatma" Gandhi]References[1] "Suffering. " The New Oxford Dictionary of English. 2015. [. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com...] [2] "Pain. " The New Oxford Dictionary of English. 2015. [. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com...][3] Antony Flew, ed. (1979). "golden rule". A Dictionary of Philosophy. London: Pan Books in association with The Macmillan Press. p. 134. ISBN 0-330-48730-2. [4] Craig, W. J. "Position of the American Dietetic Association: Vegetarian Diets. " United States National Library of Medicine Official Website. [. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...] [5] Key TJ, Appleby PN, Rosell MS (2006). "Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets". Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 65 (1): 35–41. [6] Blog für Familie, Ernährung & Leben (Blog for Family, Nutrition & Life). "Datenbank SOFA (seed oil fatty acids). " [. http://www.bfel.de... - translated at . https://translate.google.com...] [7] "Sadism. " The New Oxford Dictionary of English. 2015. [. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com...][8] Capaldo, Theodora. "Animal Data is Not Reliable for Human Health Research. " Livescience. [. http://www.livescience.com...][9] AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND LEGISLATION, Jeremy Bentham, 1789 ("printed" in 1780, "first published" in 1789, "corrected by the Author" in 1823. ) See Chapter I: Of the Principle of Utility. For Bentham on animals, see Ch. XVII Note 122[10] Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. HarperCollins, New York. (2009 - 4th edition)