CONCEPTS IN ANIMAL WELFARE

Introduction to Animal Welfare Ethics

MODULE
Introduction to Animal
Welfare Ethics 7
A. Objectives
This module will enable you to
1) Define ethics
2) Understand why vets need ethics
3) Recognise different views of animals’ moral status
4) Be aware of the main ethical theories and how they relate to animals
5) Construct ethical arguments about animals

B. What are ethics ?

1) Ethics deal with our values what is good or bad, right or wrong
2) Ethical theory is a branch of moral philosophy
3) Ethics are a part of everyday life:
– Our everyday actions impact on the interests of others

C. Branches of Ethics

Personal Ethics

Professional Ethics

Societal Ethics

D. Ethical Sceptics
1) Are ethics ‘just subjective’?
There is a wide agreement between different ethical systems and cultures on what is right and
wrong
– ‘The golden rule’ found in many cultures
– Ethics as ‘glue’ holding societies together
2) Are ethics just preferences?
a) A preference requires no rational defence
b) A preference is not binding for others
c) The nature of moral justification where the justifying reason is generally recognized by
others

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Introduction to Animal Welfare Ethics

E. Ethical dilemmas
1) Ethical dilemmas are situations in which each possible course seems to be morally wrong
2) Not all ethical problems are dilemmas
3) Not all dilemmas are ethical dilemmas
4) Many dilemmas can often be solved by careful thought

F. Why do vets need ethics?

1) Vets have obligations to different parties so ethical decisions are constantly faced
2) Ethics are the tools to make these decisions well
3) Enlightened self interest of the individual and the profession

Only
ethics
has the
answer

Public
Other Vets

Farmer Veterinarian Patient

G. The moral status of animals

1) Position 1: Animals have no moral status
– We have no duties towards them
– E.g., “It is OK to beat the dog for fun”
…do ‘pests’ like rats/mice have any moral status?

2) Position 2: Animals have ‘instrumental’ value

– We have indirect duties to them
– E.g., “Don’t beat the dog as you might upset
– the owner”
…do experimental animals have only instrumental value
to humans?

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Introduction to Animal Welfare Ethics

3) Position 3: Animals have ‘intrinsic’ value

– We have direct duties to them
– E.g., “Don’t beat the dog as it would hurt
– the dog and this matters!
…do pets, like other family members, have intrinsic value?

H. Reasons for giving intrinsic moral value to animals?

Are others obliged to respect such interests?

Interests flow from these feelings

(e.g.) the interest in avoiding pain

If animals have a mental life and feelings

(e.g.) if they can feel pain

I. The capacity to feel

1) ‘Sentience’ is the capacity to have feelings such as the simplest of sensations as pain or
warmth, is enough to give an animal some basic intrinsic moral value because of the interests
which flow from these feelings. Therefore ‘sentience’ is thought by many to be the minimum
requirement for moral status.
2) These feelings sometimes called “mental states” include sensations or emotions.
3) Mental states may be pleasant or unpleasant
4) There are other aspects of mental life which may be important such as the ability to have
desires, self-awareness, ability to communicate with others using language.

J. Evidence for sentience

1) Behavior
There are important connections between mental life and behaviour, so animal behaviour can
provide some evidence for or against sentience. Such evidence may be collected in the
controlled but unnatural laboratory setting or in the less controlled but more natural field
setting. For example, there is good behavioural evidence that many vertebrate species
experience pain because they:
1. Seek to avoid or escape painful stimuli
2. Limit the use of the affected part
3. Learn to avoid painful situations
4. These responses are modified by use of analgesic drugs.

2) Evolution
A common ancestor which evolved
feelings that descendant species share

Evolution is the continuity

between humans and other
animals

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Introduction to Animal Welfare Ethics

3) Physiology and Anatomy

Similarities with humans, especially neurophysiology and neuroanatomy

K. Sceptical arguments against animal moral status

1) Only members of species Homo sapiens have moral status: ‘speciesism’
2) Animals cannot reciprocate
– Can you have rights without responsibilities?
– BUT if children have moral status, why not animals?
3) Animals lack consciousness
– Animals lack souls: animals as machines
– Animals have no language: Is language necessary for consciousness?
 Can primates have language?
 Does this confuse awareness with self- awareness?
– Animals are incapable of higher intellectual capacities. Are higher intellectual capacities
necessary for consciousness?
 Ability to reason
 Consciousness versus self-awareness
 Does reason result in greater potential to suffer?
4) Vested human interests - it would be much more convenient for humans if animals were to
lack consciousness and moral consideration such as in the case of farm and laboratory
animals.

L. Important concepts in animal ethics

1) Anthropomorphism
– Attribution of human characteristics to an animal
2) Speciesism
– Discrimination against animals on basis of species

M. Equal consideration of interests

This concept allows different treatment of different animals, but asks that we give equal weight to
their morally relevant similar interests in our ethical decision making. So, if it hurts a goat as much
as it hurts a human to be slapped, we ought to avoid causing this sort of pain in both goats and
humans. This principle considers unequal treatment of animals and humans justified only if there
are morally relevant differences between humans and that animal. It does not necessarily imply
that all animal lives are as valuable as human lives, but it is also not consistent with the idea that
all humans have a higher moral status than all other species. It demands equal treatment where
interests are the same.

N. Approaches to animal ethics

1) Utilitarianism
a) Emphasises consequences of actions
b) Seeks to maximise good outcomes
– The greatest good for the greatest number’
c) Some problems
– Breaking rules for good consequences
– How do we make the calculation?

Example: Peter Singer’s utilitarianism

 Aim to maximise the satisfaction of preferences of all species
 Major animal interests versus minor human interests

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Introduction to Animal Welfare Ethics

2) Duty based ethics or ‘Deontology’

a) From the Greek ‘deontos’ meaning ‘obligation’
b) Emphasis on principles guiding behaviour rather than outcomes
c) For example, treat people as ends, not as means to other ends

Example: Tom Regan’s deontology: animal rights

 Animal rights – a form of deontological theory
 Tom Regan argues that animals have inherent value
 Rights flow from this inherent value
 This view demands abolition of animal farming and experimentation

3) Hybrid views
a) Different theories sometimes conflict
b) Often people combine parts from different theories
c) Combination of utilitarianism and rights - there are certain practices which may not be
justifiable by any consequences

O. Approaches to animal ethics: an ethical matrix

THEORY or
Animal Consumer Producer
PRINCIPLE
Utilitarianism Welfare Availability of safe food Producer income and
working conditions
Autonomy Behavioural Freedom of choice Freedom of choice to adopt
freedom (food labelling?) or not adopt certain practices

Fairness or Equal consideration Universally affordable Fair trade?

Justice of interests? food?

P. Animal rights VERSUS animal welfare?

1) Conflicting ideals?
2) Welfare
– Seen as utilitarian avoidance of unnecessary suffering and promotion of humane
treatment
3) Rights
– Seen as absolute, overcoming any consequences
4) Rights and welfare not necessarily opposed
5) Animal Welfare Science does not imply acceptance of all customary practices
6) ‘New Welfarism’ - welfare short term and rights long term

Q. Other philosophical positions (Taylor 2003)

1) Care ethic
2) Contractarian ethics
3) Stewardship

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Introduction to Animal Welfare Ethics

R. Popular misunderstanding of animal rights

1) Animal rights
– School of philosophical thought
– Used by the media and the public to mean “animal liberation”
2) Animal liberation (Taylor 2003)
– A popular movement
– May use extreme methods, occasionally violent

S. Conclusions
1) Vets make ethical decisions all the time. Therefore, they need to know about ethics in order to
make these decisions well
2) There are arguments for granting animals some form of moral worth
3) There are various ethical theories which attempt to address the issues of animals and their
treatment by humans

Further reading (from Concepts in Animal Welfare Syllabus)

 Armstrong, S, Botzler R (Eds) 2003 The Animal Ethics Reader Routledge
 ASCIONE, F.R. & ARKOW, P., 1999: Child abuse, Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse.
Purdue University Press. West Lafayette
 CAVALIERI, P., ADAMS, D. & GOODALL, J., 1995: The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond
Humanity. St. Martin's Press.
 DAWKINS, M.S., 1993: Through Our Eyes Only? The Search for Animal Consciousness. W.H.
Freeman.
 Francione G. 1995 Animals, Property and the Law (Ethics and Action). Philadelphia: Temple
University Press
 Francione G. 1996 Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
 Garner R. 2005 Animal Ethics Oxford: Blackwell
 Goodwin B. (1999). Reclaiming a life of quality. Journal of Consciousness studies. 6(11-12):
229-235(7).
 HUGHES, B.O. and BLACK, A.J., 1973: The preferences of domestic hens for different types
of battery cage floor. British Poultry Science 14, 615-619.
 LEAHY, M.P.T., 1991: Against Liberation: Putting Animals in Perspective. Routledge.
 MEPHAM, B., 1996: Food Ethics. Routledge
 Midgley M 1983. Animals and Why They Matter. University of Georgia Press, US
 Preece R, Chamberlain L. 1993. Animal Welfare and Human Values. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier
Press.
 REGAN, T, 1984: The Case for Animal Rights. Routledge. London.
 REGAN, T., 2005 in In Defence of Animals: The Second Wave (Ed. Singer). Blackwell
Publishing.
 ROLLIN, B., 2006: An Introduction to Veterinary Medical Ethics: Theory and Cases. 2nd
edition. Blackwell, Oxford.
 SCRUTON, R., 1996: Animal Rights and Wrongs. Demos. ISBN 1 898309 82 5.
 Singer P 2000. Ethics into Action: Henry Spira and the Animal Rights Movement. New York:
Rowan and Littlefield.
 SINGER, P., 2001 Animal Liberation. 3rd Edition. Harper Collins: London
 Spiegel M 1997 The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery. New York: Institute
for the Development of Earth Awareness.
 TANNENBAUM, J., 1995: Veterinary Ethics: Animal Welfare, Client Relations, Competition
and Collegiality. 2nd Edition. Mosby.

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 TAYLOR A. 2003: Animals and Ethics: an overview of the philosophical debate . Broadview
Press: Peterborough, Canada
 Turner J, d’Silva J (Eds) 2006 Animals, Ethics and Trade: The Challenge of Animal Sentience.
Earthscan
 Warren MA 2007. Ethics and Animals. Prentice Hall
 WEMELSFELDER F 1997: The scientific validity of subjective concepts in models of animal
welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 53: 75-88
 Wemelsfelder F, Lawrence AB 2001. Qualitative Assessment of Animal Behaviour as an On-
Farm Welfare-monitoring Tool. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science
51(30): 21-25

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