I’m quite interested in exploring the link between animal rights and liberalism. It seems to me that there is a pretty direct link and that if you count yourself a libertarian you must oppose hunting, factory farms etc (I can’t say how far this would go). All that is needed is that animals have interests and that those interests can be harmed. It is a pretty minimal position and apart from the obvious intuition that they do have interests, I’d say there is ample scientific evidence too. So I think that this should be the default position for liberals and needs overturning with a specific argument that animals don’t have interests. It’s a pretty tough ask.
I think its interesting because it looks pretty built in to a political ideology and one doesn't need to go through all the icky philosophy and science etc. Of course people are resistant, cows are yummy...
2 comments:
Hi San. Thanks for your comments and link. I think Stuart and I (and most rational people) would agree, that animals don't have the same interests as us. If the animals are birds, they might have interests to build twiggy nests in trees, while we would rather have our house on the ground built out of bricks. Our intellectual interests obviously are very different and as Stuart mentioned in a previous blog animals have no need to vote. But I think the bare minimum interest that we wish to see considered more in this society, is their interest not to suffer and be harmed.
Thanks san.
What Tracy said... It doesn’t matter what their interests are, just that they have interests. But I’m an atheist, so I don’t see the same gulf between non-human animals and us.
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