Josh's Cockatoo Page 1 Introduction. In view of this, I have decided to compile this page of notes on this topic. It is designed to be read in conjunction with Henry Fitzgerald's similar notes on the philosophical merits of dogs , and Cathy Legg's on cats .
Cockatoos have a lot to contribute to ethics.
They are clearly hedonists, though there has been much debate over whether egoistic or utilitarian hedonists. For example, screeching loudly outside a student's window at 6am on a Sunday morning. The prima facie explanation for this would be that the primary value for this cockatoo is its own happiness, while that of other agents is not to be considered. 2.2 Egoism refuted It would be unfair however, to suggest that this case resists utilitarian redescription. Or it may be the case that the screeching itself had a large, necessarily concomitant, gain in net utility, which together with it, exceeded the net loss in utility incurred by the student.