Animal Liberation Essence: Prevention of Suffering Peter Singer, Tom Regan Criterion: Sentience Goals: Prohibition of Hunting, Fishing & Slaughtering Prohibition of Factory Farming Prohibition of Vivisection & Experimentation Protection of Habitat Sentient Beings Have Only Intrinsic Value

What Qualifies An Entity for Moral Standing? Personhood Potential Personhood Rationality Linguistic Capability Sentience Being Alive Being a Part of an Ecosystem

Animal Welfare Animal interests can be overriden by benefits to humans Utilitarian outlook – cost/benefit balancing Many versions of animal welfare arguments depending on the weight assigned to animal interests Example: Peter Singer, Animal Liberation (1975) Does not include humanist or anthropocentric viewpoint

Animal Rights Rights as protective fences – barriers between the holders of rights & the interests of others No cost/benefit balancing Imposing costs on animals for the benefit of humans is unjustifiable in principle Example: Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights (1983)

Animal Rights Theory

In Regan’s view, an animal rights position requires moral vegetarianism. It is right to take an animal’s life for human food only in life threatening circumstances. That applies to few of us, and even then, rarely. This makes much of food animal agriculture thoroughly beside the point …. (Paul B. Thompson, Ethics and Genetic Engineering of Food Animals, (1997) 10 Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 1, 9) Ce jugement s’applique mutatis mutandis aux utilisations des animaux rendues possibles par la transgénèse animale. Ainsi, à travers la doctrine anthropocentrique et la théorie des droits des animaux se dessinent deux attitudes distinctes envers les animaux. Ces attitudes se retrouvent à l'œuvre vis-à-vis de la transgénèse animale et donne lieu à une pluralité de jugements portant sur l'acceptabilité des utilisations des animaux que rend possible la manipulation génétique des animaux. En effet, si on accepte comme étant moralement justifié que les animaux sont au service des êtres humains, cette approbation s'étendra vraisemblablement aux utilisations des animaux rendues possibles par la transgénèse animale. À l'inverse, si on s'oppose à toute utilisation des animaux, cette opposition se transférera probablement aux utilisations des animaux rendues possibles par la manipulation génétique des animaux.

Perspectives in the genetic engineering of animals

Implications of animal welfare and animal rights positions Animal Use Animal modification Animal Welfare X Animal Rights

Beyond consumers’ interests … One finds animals’ interests

Beyond animals’ interests … One finds society’s interests