Ethical Theory And The Classical And Modern Answers

Question of Identity: What does it mean to be human? Are humans more important than animals?

Animals have the physical need to receive love and attention. Human beings have the need to correct and overcorrect our actions, especially towards animals. Humanity is defined by any act of kindness, pity, or compassion. As a group, humans believe in both the lesser treatment of animals, and the idea that animals deserve rights. Since we are at the top of the food chain, and we have greater cognitive ability, human beings have the control.

This view, that humans are of special moral status, is constantly attempted to be rationalized in various ways. One such defense is that we are not morally wrong to prioritize our needs

The Question of Identity- (What does it mean to be human? Are humans more important than animals?

The question of the correct ethical treatment of animals has been a topic of many heated debates. The basis of this discussion arises numerous premises that justifies the treatment of animals. Whether animal do in fact have a sentient? And what is distinctive about humanity such that humans are thought to have moral status and non-human do not? Providing an answer to the correct ethical treatment of animals has become increasingly paramount among society as well as philosophers.

“It’s starting to look as if the most shameful tradition of Western civilization is our need to deny we are animals” (Barbara Kingsolver 10). In “High Tide In Tucson”, the author Kingsolver proposes a counter-narrative that human should recognize themselves as animals. In “

We are all animals. Although we like to believe we are superior and justify many of our actions on this ideology. The truth is quite different. We share countless, undeniable similarities with “animals” and to pretend we are some super being that transcends animals status is foolish.

The life of prisoners some may never know. There are those who care not to know what goes on behind that wired fence. We find that some people that are convicted of crimes that they did not commit. Some people would rather turn their heads to what actually happens in a prison institution, because they feel it is no concern of theirs. Innocent women and men face a disaster in life when they find their selves incarcerated in such facility as these. The treatment in prison facilities toward prisoners with health issues or those who develop health concerns that

Both in and out of philosophical circle, animals have traditionally been seen as significantly different from, and inferior to, humans because they lacked a certain intangible quality – reason, moral agency, or consciousness – that made them moral agents. Recently however, society has patently begun to move beyond this strong anthropocentric notion and has begun to reach for a more adequate set of moral categories for guiding, assessing and constraining our treatment of other animals. As a growing proportion of the populations in western countries adopts the general position of animal liberation, more and more philosophers are beginning to agree that sentient creatures are of a direct moral concern to humans, though the degree of this

There are many different meanings to being human. Being human means being a mundane that tries to make sense of its spiritual existence. We are not human, we are simply being human. If we were not to be born as humans, we may have been born as animals. In Book I of Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle introduces his argument by distinguishing between two types of ends which human beings strive for. He states, “For the end is sometimes an activity, sometimes a product beyond the activity; and when there is an end beyond the action, the product is by nature better than the activity” (1).

One of the most controversial topics in modern philosophy revolves around the idea of non-human animals being considered human people. Controversy over what makes up an actual person has been long debated. However, society deems it as a set of characteristics. The average person normally does not realize how complicated a question this is, and in fact many scientists, philosophers, and individuals will side differently on this specific topic. I personally do not believe that animals are capable of being human people, but throughout this argumentative paper I will address critical views presented from multiple philosophers on why this seems to be the case.

Previously throughout mankind, the sacred idea of each human being belonging to a soul has been a huge argument for viewing other creatures as inferior. It was popular belief that animals did not contain this holy entity that would entitle them to better treatment from humanity. Many people believed that “As human beings were above animals in this hierarchy they were entitled to use animals in any way they wanted” (Animal Rights). This idea is seen as outdated and as secularism is becoming more prominent throughout society, “This argument is no longer regarded as useful, because the idea of the soul is very controversial and unclear, even among religious people” (Animal Rights). This leaves many people skeptical about any beings having a soul, since it is scientifically impossible to prove the existence of souls. Therefore the defensive argument that animals are inferior to human due to supernatural ideology, such as souls, remains at a standstill with modern science.

“Brad is a production engineer at a bicycle company and part of his job includes inspecting broken bikes and drafting the design repairs for their repair” (Bartlett). Brad is considering replacing a broken brake cable with a more durable material, even though the customer did not request it in their order and specifically requested that “No aesthetic changes be made to the bike” (Bartlett). Brad’s manager suggests that his considered actions would go against the company’s policy of “The customer is always right.” Should Brad disobey the manager and the customer to possibly lose his job or go along with

Ethics has developed as people have reflected on the intentions and consequences of their acts. From this reflection on the nature of human behavior, theories of conscience have developed, giving direction to much ethical thinking. Each individual

Are humans' animalistic savages or have we evolved long enough to have shed our animalistic nature? Has society created separation between individuals so great that we have resorted to our animalistic nature of fending for ourselves or has it always been there? Questions that make us rethink our stance on who we really are. In philosophy, the animalist doctrine states that humans are animals in their essential identity and are persons only through their contingent properties. This idea affects man and makes us question our own existence and progress in our daily lives. This duality of man, animal and human aspect such as compassion and thought. can be further extended to Nietzsche idea of the Apollonian and Dionysian sides of man and the influence this idea had on the development of modern philosophy pertaining to existentialism. This dichotomy of the multiple sides of man would appear in the philosophical movement of Edo Neo-Confucianism, one of the main philosophy of the later Azuchi-Momoyama period through the Edo period, as well as showing a connection in both eastern and western philosophy. This idea of the dualism of man is shown in the Kyogen "The Moon-viewing Blind Man" where the playwright displays this idea of man's internal struggle between the Apollonian side in contrast to one's Dionysian side and how one can digress to a primitive state when the eyes of