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You are here: Home Family & Kids Pets Do animals have rights?

03/04/2009Do animals have rights?

A few weeks back, Radio Netherlands World aired a story about the right to have a pet. That programme got a lot of listener response, so rnw decided to match Gary Francione with another philosopher, Jan Narveson, for a radio debate.

The State We're In

In the original programme, philosopher Gary Francione argued that nobody has a right to own a pet, because we shouldn't look at animals as being property, that they have rights in and of themselves.

Gary believes that animals have many of the same fundamental needs humans do. As such, we can't own, eat, kill them for our own needs. He argues that we don't actually need animals for food or clothing anyhow; we just like what we can make out of them, and that's no basis for the domestication and destruction of animal lives.

Jan Narveson believes animals inhabit a separate sphere of being than humans do, Youtube footageand that they're incapable of entering into reciprocal relationships with us. As a consequence, they don't actually have rights.

He objects to the demonisation of meat-eaters such as himself, as being amoral or even immoral. Animals aren't moral agents, he argues, and aren't entitled to anything resembling equal treatment.

 

 

Click here to listen to the audio file.

 

What do you think about this meaty issue? Participate in the debate through leaving your comments below this article.  

Radio Netherlands

rnw

 

1 reaction to this article

Maggie posted: 03-04-2009 | 9:30 AM

Everybody can argue until they are blue in the face about this. They way i see it (this is my opinion) there is a difference between killing animals for food and killing animals for sport. many say it is inhumane to kill animals even for food, but you could equally argue that plants feel pain so in effect we would all starve.

some of the methods used today to produce meet for almost 6 biill people can get a bit fuzzy on the moral line, but we have been killing animals almost scince the begining of time (both biblical and evolutional) for food, warmth, and shelter.

But when you hear stories about baby seals being clubbed to death for sport you really have to sit back and wonder... There is nothing wrong with taking an animal as a pet, as long as his "rights" are seen too. animals have the right to eat, walk, sleep, play and other things.

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