Nonviolence Vs Buddhism

The history of violence in the world is well documented. However it is also possible to use non-violence to bring about change. This DBQ will look at two countries where a non-violent movement was successful.

In the article “A Change of Heart About Animals”, Rifkin asserts that humans are treating animals in the most atrocious way, and he claims that in order for their lives to improve, we need to definitely adjust ours. He uses great amount of logos, and several experiments done with different animals and tries his best to closely relate animals to us, humans. Rifkin although, never inserts a call for action to this problem throughout his article. Instead, he puts the emphasis on the pathos of the argument. In the world we are living in today, there is about 8.7 million different living species. Whether they are land or marine animals, they do play a big role in our community such as being apart of the food pyramid, assisting handicapped people wherever they go, or being a transportation for people living on farms and fields. With this being said, the ranking of animals in our community has brought up a heated argument in connection to their rights and welfare. Eight legged, four legged, or two legged land or sea animals do not comprehend the concept of rights. If we, humans, give animals “rights”, we are basically inferring the fact that we are like animals, and they have the entitlement to share our rights. Although they don’t understand rights, the fact that many of these animals are being treated inhumanely is wrong and animal welfare should be ingrained into this community rather than the massive inhumane treatment.

While when discussing the history of the world’s power forces, violence makes for stimulating discussion, other tactics were put to good use, one of these alternatives being non-violence. With the guidance of three worldwide heroes - Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela - with contagious optimism and high spirits, it became apparent just how much of a difference could be made carried out through non-violent terms. Mankind was introduced to another way to resolve major problems just as effectively, if not more, than violence could.

The first point of utilitarianism is important for readers to understand because upon completion of reading this work, or any work related to animals deserving equal considerations in terms of suffering, comes a question of ethics and a decision. Singer expresses the similarities between how humans treated one another and their progressions over time throughout Animal Liberation with good reasons. The

Foer raises the question why people are so loving to companion animals while being indifferent to other

Animals help humans by changing their lives. ¨I think it's also true, though in a different way, that all animals make us human (Grandin, pg 153, pp 2).¨ Animals make our lives easier. Animals were impacted by this changed in humans because they show that they are being helpful. Animals also learned new ways how they can teach humans.

The article “A Change of Heart About Animals” written by Jeremy Rifkin informs readers that animals feel emotions very much similar to humans and should be given more rights. I agree with Rifkin’s statement, but to a certain extent.

Compassion is a very complex, and often times, confusing aspect of human nature. Compassion is thought by some to be an innate human emotion that is the separating force between humans and animals. Others would argue that compassion in humans is influenced by the environments and situations in which they are exposed to and can be mistaken for selfish ulterior motives or fear. The essay On Compassion by Barbara Lazear Ascher tells her view of compassion through events she has experienced with homeless people, compassion shown towards them, and how these experiences shaped her opinion on the emotion. Ascher explains her perspective on compassion through her thesis in the passage stating “Compassion is not a character trait like a sunny disposition.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

People should be one with their animals and see them as companions and not just as work tools. “Had him since he was a pup. I herded sheep with him. He said proudly, you wouldn’t think it to look at him now…” (Steinbeck, 44).

Based on Jeremy Rifkin’s article “A Change of Heart about Animals” I totally agree with what he has to say. As humans we are born with empathy. As we grow older we learn how to develop more empathy. One of our journeys while on this planet is to appeal to humans empathy. We learn how to have more empathy to those who we care about the most.

“One cannot look deeply into the eyes of an animal and not see the same depth, complexity and feeling we humans lay exclusive claim to.” – Nan Sea Love. The discussion of the persona of animals and humans is an ongoing topic. Today, scientists with diverse worldviews influence both the young and old minds of individuals with their theories and philosophies based on observations and statistics. Society, as a whole, struggles with the connotation of animals portraying human traits and vice versa.

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

Peaceful resistance has been around for ages and has served for a way for people to achieve goals like social change through the practice of nonviolence. Peaceful resistance has gained much attention in both the past and present, causing others to ponder as to whether such resistance either benefits or harms a free society. There are compelling arguments for both sides, though the argument that peaceful resistance positively impacts society stands to be the most persuasive. Nonviolent resistance benefits a free society because it serves as a method for defeating oppressive regimes and societal norms, it allows powerful leaders to emerge to unite people under one cause, and it facilitates the establishment of lasting democracies. Peaceful resistance has proved to be a way for people to overthrow oppressive regimes and societal norms.

In Peter Singer’s article “All Animals are Equal,” Singer advocates for the basic principle of equality to be extended to animals. By the basic principle of equality, he means that all beings should receive equal consideration in relation to experiencing pain and pleasure.