Animal Liberation By Peter Singer

47). The supposedly medical nature of these studies, with the corresponding chance for advancing the health of the human species, is overcome by the fact that “animal models have questionable accuracy” (Singer, Animal Liberation, p. 58). A particularly chilling take-away from the studies Singer lists is that most of them end with a note along the lines of ‘further experimentation necessary’, implying that the researchers are involved in a self-fulfilling negative cycle where their personal pursuit for grant money, publication in peer reviewed journals, and the elusive accolades of their colleagues far overshadows the immense amount of suffering their studies are causing. Indeed, Singer presents his argument in a convincing format, with one account surpassing the next in its sheer lack of consideration for animals as living creatures. This reinforces his argument that humans are speciesists, prone to causing harm to non-humans without a thought if it means a slight (perceived) enhancement in their own state.

There are an infinite amount of unique responses to the question “What is the meaning of life?”. However, the majority of people will agree that the true meaning of life is to find happiness and what is really important to one’s self. In Jon Krakauer’s, Into The Wild, Chris McCandless conveys this idealism through his life’s journey as he bravely defies all limitations. Chris McCandless isolates himself from society in his Alaskan Odyssey as a way to defy accepted expectations and to begin discovering the meanings of life without any corrupted influences.

I am going to argue in support of Peter Singer’s claims against speciesism. It is right to claim that human suffering and animal suffering should be given equal considerations. Both humans and nonhuman species suffer both physically and emotionally and both deserve equal considerations on the basis of morality.

In this essay I intend to explore the narrative conventions and values, which Oliver Smithfield presents in the short story Victim. The short story positions the reader to have negative and sympathetic opinion on the issues presented. Such as power, identity and bullying. For example Mickey the young boy is having issues facing his identity. It could be argued that finding your identity may have the individual stuck trying to fit in with upon two groups.

In April of 1992, a young man of the age of twenty-four, later determined to be Chris McCandless ' body, was discovered in an old Fairbanks bus in the Alaskan bush. Four years after his death, Jon Krakauer wrote a novel titled Into The Wild, the book traced McCandless 's journey around much of the United States, across the West side of Canada, and even down to the boarder of Mexico. Over the many years since his death, speculations have arisen about how death was brought upon him. Most believe starvation was the only reason, but with extensive research Jon Krakauer discovered another theory, that a substance in the seeds that Chris McCandless was ingesting was a contributing factor to his death. Even with this conclusion many around the world despise Chris for his being naive and unprepared when walking into the wild. While others believe he was brave for following his dreams and never letting anyone talk him out of his plans. Chris McCandless was an adventurer who was brave enough to never back down, but in the end his luck turned for the worst and was misfortunate enough to have ate the wrong type of food. McCandless was an inspiration and a lesson to people of all ages, that dreams aren 't meant to be taken lightly and even with possible risks they should be followed. Jon Krakauer 's book tells a marvelous story of a young man who left behind the outside world to do what he loved the most.

Justin Torres Novel We the Animals is a story about three brothers who lived a harassed childhood life. There parents are both young and have no permanent jobs to support their family. The narrator and his brothers are delinquents who are mostly outside, causing trouble, causing and getting involved in a lot of problems and barely attending school, which their parents allowed them to do. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father, leading them to become more violent to one another and others, drinking alcohol and dropping out of school. Physical abuse is an abuse involving one person’s intention to cause feelings of pain, injury and other physical suffering and bodily harm to the victim. Children are more

Rhetorical devices are used by writers to have an effect on its audience, they use words in specific ways to convey meaning. In the book “The Presence of Others” they introduce two essays that deal with identity, “Guys vs Men” and “Reptile Dreams” (Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz). In the essay by Dave Barry “Guys vs Men” he uses several rhetorical devices to describe what he believes, is the difference between guys and men (405). One rhetorical device Barry uses is tone. He creates a humorous tone to get his message across to readers; his message is that people should relax and not take things so seriously. In contrast, in Keith Bradsher’s “Reptile Dreams,” Bradsher creates a morose tone to express his opinion on what vehicles say about a person’s identity (471). While the two authors are telling very different stories, both use some of the same rhetorical devices to convey their feelings. Dave Barry’s “Guy vs. Men” and Keith Bradsher’s “Reptile Dreams” both use rhetorical devices of tone, anecdote, and hyperbole to influence the reader.

The ninety-five page novella, Animal Farm, written by George Orwell. Aimed at teenagers and adults, it cleverly shows the flaws within society and how we will never change. This timeless classic was converted into an hour and ten minute long film (in 1954) which is suitable and supposedly appealing to young children.

The Whale Rider by Niki Caro is a film about a young girl, Paikea’s journey to acceptance from her grandfather. This film explores many themes such as feminism, family and conflict. One of the main conflicts explored throughout this film is the conflict between Nanny Flowers and Koro, Paikea’s grandparents. Conflict is an important issue in this film because it causes rupture among an already fractured family.

Singer deciphers how the ability for animals to feel has been used scientifically but never accepted. He cites scientific trials such as the trials conducted by Gillette on rabbits. In 1986 an employee at the lab of Gillette released photos of the tests on rabbits to see the toxicity and effect of the toxicity on eyes. The rabbits’ eyes were swollen and bleeding after having the ink put into their eyes. In another experiment pigs in England were put into decompression chambers. The pigs were subjected to up to an 81 periods of decompression in nine months. Experiments like these have caused large parallels to be drawn between the treatment of the Jewish people in the Holocaust. In a similar experiment a Nazi scientist placed a human into a decompression chamber and saw how they reacted. The scientists experimented on

The Vancouver Aquarium uses dolphins and belugas to provide entertainment and utilizes the profit gained, to aid them in research. In The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan’s moral principles state that there should be total abolition of the use of animals in science as well as for entertainment purposes (337). Moreover, he claims that humans and animals have equal values and rights. Based on this principle, I argue that the practices of the Vancouver Aquarium of using belugas and dolphins for scientific and entertainment purposes is immoral and thus unjustified.

In Peter Singer’s piece “All Animals Are Equal”, he begins his argument by an in-depth consideration of notable rights movements, such as the Black Liberation and women’s rights movement, then segues into the justification for equal consideration of rights regarding animals, before finally exposing the immorality behind factory farming and animal cruelty. According to Singer, “the basic principle of equality…is equality of consideration; and equal consideration for different beings may lead to different treatment and different rights” (Singer 1974, 506). Based off proposed animals’ rights to equal consideration, Singer formats his main arguments against factory farming and the mistreatment of animals in general. These arguments stem from

Napoléon proved that Greenblatt's essay is true. That there are pigs in every society, he wanted all the power and be the center of everyone's attention. Napoléon didn’t like snowball's idea about the windmill, when it was snowball's idea. However, he really did like the idea. So Napoleon chased snowball out of the animal farm. Once that was done, he took all the credit for the windmill idea. During this the animals were building the windmill, but Napoléon was sitting back and doing nothing. It became necessary to elect a president. There was only one candidate that wanted the job so Napoléon who was elected.

One view that is taken upon animals is that they cannot feel anything, so therefore, it does not hurt the animal but more the owner—in the view of pets. (E, p. 533) He explains that the owner of the pet feels more pain about the injured pet then that of the animals injury, and continues to explain that this viewpoint is irrelevant because pain is where it is felt, physiologically. The only reason that the belief is held is because the owner of the pet has a moral obligation to ensure the pets safety, and that the owner can actually do something about it—this is the subconscious view of the owner. He then tries to give some points on how animals should be treated. He argues that there is this “cruelty-kindness view” in that he states “…we have a direct duty to be kind to animals and a direct duty not to be cruel to them.” (E, p. 536) This view seems to have a valid argument but his argument begins to fail as he blurs the lines of human and animal interests during his argument to support this. However, Peter Singer has some level of agreement but takes a different stance.

The reader assumes from what McKie wrote about animal testing that the researchers must be ‘callous individuals’ who are ‘indifferent to animal suffering,’ but in truth they have an ‘innate love of animals.’ McKie provides evidence of this by describing how they end up ‘knitting hammocks’ for the animals and ‘having favourites.’ He mentions an interview with a King’s College technician which supports his evidence. A different employee also claimed that researching on marmosets had allowed them to develop medicines which have allowed patients ‘to run their lives normally.’ Prior to King’s College’s experiments on marmosets, Parkinson’s patients ‘were a mass of uncontrollable movement, jerking and waving their hands and arms.’ McKie convinces the reader of why, while animal testing can be seen as unethical and wrong, it still is very important in the medical field. I feel that the life of a human has greater value than that of an animal, and that in this case the means justifies the end. By sacrificing hundreds of animals for experiments we end up saving thousands of