Singer’s principle states that natural practices reoccur due to unjustifiable prejudice. Translated to suffering, the principle of equality confirms that suffering is an inevitable practice that gives all humans equal opportunity ( Regan & Singer,1989) . Bentham’s quote, on the other hand, summarizes Singer’s argument on how humans treat animals. When deciding on actions that affect other humans, the judgment should not be made based on their Intellectual Quotient because it will be discrimination based on their reasoning ability that is the contrary of the principle of equality ( Parekh, 1970) . Suffering and the principle of justice have a close relationship. Humans cannot imagine a life with joy and happiness ever. If there were such a life, then humans would develop tolerance to the perfect lifestyle. Humans would not realize pleasure in the things they do if there was only pleasure. These two statements mean that in life, humans must always experience inevitable bad things. From a personal understanding of Singer’s life must be hard for humans to take credit for their hard work and endurance. However, Singer does not mean that humans should go out of their way to suffer to gain fulfillment. This notion balances with the principle of equality.
If human qualify the principle of equality based on their abilities to perform specific tasks, then those who do not have the abilities to perform will always appear inferior to those that have the ability. This brings inequality based on human judgment of others, a condition that fully corrupts moral equality. Now, while focusing on the ability of suffering, one can deduce on the eligibility of the principle of equality. This is to mean that the principle of treating others on how we expect them to treat us applies. Of course, this doesn’t mean that animals have equal rights as humans while focusing on civil responsibilities because they cannot vote or serve in courts like humans. However, animals have flesh and blood in them and breath like humans; thus, they undergo pain. They also have feelings like humans who do not like being mistreated like inflicting pain on them.
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Singer discusses how humans are cruel to animals. Notably, he mentions that animals are used in food production and animal testing. The two roles that humans implicate animals to play are the most controversial and the most significant form of cruelty acts that humans perform on animals. Humans usually focus on the profits that they will make from animals in food production, but they don’t question their conscience on the pain and suffering that animals undergo in the process. These acts make humans appear so selfish to meet their needs at the expense of animals. Organizations use animals to test their products, a practice that, in turn, hurts the animals ( Regan & Singer,1989) .
Singer’s philosophical principle of equality implies that sentient animals that are used in food production and testing have rights and interests that should equally be considered as those for humans even though they do not have a legal obligation. Similarly, Aldo Leopold argues that humans have a moral responsibility to care for the environment ( Cafaro, 2001) . Therefore, they have a moral obligation to take care of animals. By using animals for food production and product testing, humans neglect their moral duties ultimately to preserve their environment. The difference between Singer and Leopold’s arguments is that while Singer’s arguments on justice for animals is justifiable in the conventional morality for protecting animal ethics to be treated like humans Leopold’s environmental ethics appeals to the overall environmental responsibility for humans but not specific on animal protection.
References
Cafaro, P. (2001). Thoreau, Leopold, and Carson: Toward an environmental virtue ethics. Environmental ethics , 23 (1), 3-17.
Parekh, B. (1970). Bentham's Theory of Equality. Political Studies , 18 (4), 478-495.
Regan, T., & Singer, P. (1989). Animal rights and human obligations.
