In this paper, I will provide a discussion on speciesism, which was coined by Richard D. Ryder and popularized by Peter Singer, who are knowledgeable philosophers (Ryder, 2013). Moreover, I will give reasons as to why speciesism should be avoided and how it can change the way we deal with our obligations to the environment.
To start with, I will give a summary of the definition of speciesism as indicated by Richard D. Ryder. Idyllically, Richard highlight that speciesism is an instance of prejudice that is similar to racism or sexism (LaFollette & Shanks, 1996) . It is the practice of treating a particular species as morally more essential than other members of other species. Richard argues that all the species are biologically related via evolution. Consequently, all species need to treat each other like evolutionary cousins rather than objects. Richard insists the argument by Charles Darwin which indicates that “all human beings and animals are related via evolution.” In further support, Richard indicates that other types of animal species experience pain because they also have a nervous system as well as the biochemicals that are linked to pain experiences just like human beings. Despite the form of pain that any form of an animal is experiencing be it a dog, an elephant, a cat or human the pain should be treated the same. He justifies that “suffering is an important criterion for morality, not intelligence. We do not give special extra rights to professors because they are intelligent, or priests because they are religious. We wound not want that to happen within our own society. So why do we do it across the species barrier, allegedly giving us more moral privileges, more rights, than the other species merely because we seem to be a bit more intelligent? It does not make sense.”
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Critically, speciesism is a form of prejudice that should not be practiced. When Richard Ryder indicated that all human beings and other animal species are evolutionarily related, it means that they should be treated logically and in the same way (Ryder, 2010) . In addition, the fact that all animal species have a nervous system shows that they can experience pain at any moment they are exposed to torture. Indicating that suffering is an important criterion for morality, not intelligence is a true statement. Most of the individuals concentrate on intelligence rather than the morality of the actions. Thus, if one form of species is more intelligent than the other, individuals tend to respect and favor it, which is philosophically incorrect as mentioned by Richard. Individuals need to acknowledge that all other animal species including human being suffer pain, distress, and fear. If the idea that all animal species are on one corporal continuum, then they should also be on a similar moral continuum. Thus, speciesism should be avoided to prevent organism that lives in an environment that is full of discrimination.
Philosophers argue that speciesism is entitled to an error in reasoning the same way racism does (Kagan, 2016) . Most of them argued that people purportedly are more knowledgeable, more intelligent, more autonomous and more religious hence they are regarded as more superiority than other animal species. Non-human species are used in a number of ways, especially for scientific investigation. However, philosophers who give objections to speciesism ignore the idea that individuals have very different capacities from animals. The different capacities that people have include sophisticated language, the capability of living in accordance with the moral ideals and the possession of complex thoughts. Thus, the philosophers argue that if possessing these capacities give people ethical status, then the act of possessing those capacities is what should be termed as morally important rather than one’s biology. Consequently, considering the capacities view for human beings is a substitute to speciesism but fails to be an approach of supporting. Although this is true, the speciesist would not obtain enough ideal to give a stance, either. This is because membership in the species homo sapiens is not necessary and not adequate for having those capacities. The reason that philosophers indicate is that aliens with a different biology could nevertheless have these capacities. In addition, it is not sufficient because not all members of our species have these capacities (Ryder, 2010) . For example, there are members of the human species who may be chronically mentally handicapped and therefore, they lack all three of the capacities mentioned. Another reason is that, even if all and only human beings had these capacities, that would not make species membership itself ethically pertinent. Idyllically, the capacities themselves would still be the foundation of moral status. Thus, this argument leads the philosophers to conclude that speciesism has an error in reasoning.
Conclusion
Speciecism is the practice of treating a particular species as morally more essential than other members of other species. The aspect that should be argued from a logical perspective. All organisms should be treated the same as long as they have the capacity to suffer distress, anxiety, and fear. Most importantly, since all the organisms including human beings have a nervous system, they experience pain in different circumstances and therefore should be treated with respect. Thus, to create a conducive environment for all the organisms, they should be treated in the same way and exposed to the same level of care despite their difference in intelligence levels.
References
Kagan, S. (2016). What's Wrong with Speciesism?(Society for Applied Philosophy Annual Lecture 2015). Journal of Applied Philosophy , 33 (1), 1-21.
LaFollette, H., & Shanks, N. (1996). The origin of speciesism. Philosophy , 71 (275), 41-61.
Ryder, R. D. (2010). Speciesism again: The original leaflet. Critical Society , 2 , 1-2.
Ryder, R. (2013, September 18). Richard Ryder on Speciesism . Retrieved from https://www.veganism.com/richard-ryder-on-speciesism/
