Animal Farms and Ethics: A View of Rights Theory

Authors

  • Kemi Anthony Emina Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria.
  • Gregory Ajima Onah Department of Religious and Cultural Studies University of Calabar, P.M.B. 1117 Calabar, Cross River State Nigeria, West Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48165/

Keywords:

Animals, Rights Theory, Ethics, Agriculture

Abstract

Many animals suffer terribly under intensive farming  that existence is simply of no benefit to them. Animals  have a moral right not to be raised when their other  rights will inevitably be violated. This paper applied  the rights theory to the question of farm animals and  argues that animals have a moral right not to be killed  and not to be made to suffer by agricultural practices,  but have no moral right not to be used in farming at  all. This paper argues that there is nothing inherently  wrong with modifying animals for human ends,  however, not all modifications are permissible. For  example, modifying animals to be kill and modifying  them to suffer is wrong. Those modifications that lead  to animals possessing worthwhile lives but with  insufficient opportunities for well-being are also  impermissible. This paper implies a call to end to  intensive farming methods which are not animal  friendly, and an end to raising animals for just their  meat. 

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Published

2020-11-15

Issue

Vol. 39 No. 2 (2020): Bulletin of Pure and Applied Sciences Zoology (Jul-Dec) 2020

Section

Research Paper

How to Cite

Animal Farms and Ethics: A View of Rights Theory . (2020). Bulletin of Pure & Applied Sciences- Zoology , 39(2), 367–378. https://doi.org/10.48165/