Carl Cohen: Why Animals Do Not Have Rights 1/6

Professor Carl Cohen, PhD, Philosopher, University of Michigan, USA

Why Animals Do Not Have Rights (Part 1 of 6)

26 July 2006, University of Heidelberg

This lecture will begin with an analysis of the concept of rights, and their relation to obligations. This relation, I will argue, is not reciprocal, although it is often mistakenly believed that it is. Therefore, although it is certainly true that we have many weighty obligations to animals, it does not follow that these obligations arise from their rights. Rights, I will show, are a central element in the human moral condition, but have no place in the moral lives of animals. I go on to explain the consequences of this view, and I vigorously defend the uses of animals - mice, and rats, and rabbits - in medical investigations. Such uses of animals, I argue, cannot infringe the rights of animals because animals are of such a nature that they cannot be the possessors of rights.

http://www.vorlesungen-tierrechte.de
http://www.rainerebert.de

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• Philosophy
• Animal
• Rights
• Ethics
• University
• Heidelberg
• Tierrechte

[robynoo]

this guy is a dick. just saying.

[sh9683]

@thanatos347 ok but they can still have the tubes cut sorry i forgot the proper word for it

[thanatos347]

@sh9683 and women can't have vasectomies...

[thanatos347]

@sh9683 Your arguments make about as much sense as your grammar... God is not a historical fact and the only source we have that his word was written by him through men is from the men who wrote it, who were a tad biased... and whether Darwin existed or not is just a dumb example... there are fucking pictures dude! But there's no point arguing, you're evidently going to stick to your fairy tale no matter what

[sh9683]

@thanatos347 thats why he has answered so many prayers, saved my from from death when she feel over a hundred metres she lived with just broken wrists, she had vasectamy done, and when she got it reversed the doctors told her it would not be possible to have kids yet here i am. its based on a lot more then just old wives tale! the bible was written By God through man! and is more reliable then any source proving darwin existed

[thanatos347]

@sh9683 I ate meat for the first 14 years of my life and it's really no big deal... eating meat day in day out is just as boring... and who the fuck cares? it's just FOOD!! Unlike animals who are sentient beings who can feel pain...

Gods existence is based on no more than old wives tales and tenuous observations, and the Bible was written by men, so is unreliable at best

[sh9683]

@thanatos347 well it was so long ago i forgot what i said, and what i say still is true, eating simply veggies all the time would get boring! try eating meat you will see what you are missing out on!

a) God does exist. and b) God said in the bible it is ok for me to eat and hunt meat so i fail to see how i am arrogant when the bible says its ok for me to do what i do

[thanatos347]

@sh9683 you said, and I quote; 'why make life boring for you and your family by restricting yourself to only veggies and grains?'

I'm a vegetarian so that logic is flawed...

Also you're assuming a) God exists and b) if he does exist that you know what he is and isn't against, which is just arrogant...

[sh9683]

@thanatos347 i hunt animals FOR FOOD that won't give me cancer like all the stupid gmo's and such. you might hunt them because you are "bored" i hunt for food!

and there is nothing wrong with that! God is not against me hunting!

[thanatos347]

@sh9683 at what point did you make the assumption that animals should be killed in order for us to not be 'bored'?