Beyond Might Makes Right
Those who exploit and mistreat animals generally defend their activities on the grounds that animals lack even basic rights.
Is this true, or do people deny animals rights simply to rationalize exploiting them?
In searching for an honest, consistent ethic, if one believes that humans have rights, we find that there are no legitimate grounds for rejecting rights for all other animals.
Contents
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What is meant by "rights"
A Difference of Degree
Value to others
Biological rights
The law
Ability to understand abstract concepts
The golden rule
The soul
Animals kill each other
Appeals to Emotion as Justification for Vivisection
Strict Utilitarianism
Suffering
For the love of animals
Might Makes Right
Animal morality
Download an audio recording of Vegetarianism in a Nutshell, click here to listen to streaming audio, or click here to read it.
EARTHLINGS: Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix
"You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong with capitalism.
There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a Democratic Socialism ."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Animals whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equals. "
--Charles Darwin
Metaphysics, Materialism, and the Evolution of Mind
Democracy and socialism go hand in hand. All over the world, wherever the idea of democracy has taken root, the vision of socialism has taken root as well - everywhere but in the United States. Because of this, many false ideas about socialism have developed in the U.S.
- What is Democratic Socialism?
Taking Sides: Democratic Socialism and American Politics
Towards Freedom: The Theory and Practice of Democratic Socialism
Comics are the best: