Structured Discussion about Animal Rights

This document is in progress: the FL notation is used but this document has not yet been parsed and the authorships of the relations has not yet been specified. Many of the assertions and relationships between them come from Wikireason (more precise URLs given below).


non-human_animals
  attribute: animal_rights;

  animal_rights
   specialization: legal_rights_of_non-human_animals  moral_rights_of_non-human_animals;

  legal_rights_of_non-human_animals
   specialization: "governments should enforce animals' moral rights (if they exist)";

    "governments should enforce animals' moral rights (if they exist)"
      specialization of: "governments should enforce moral rights",
      objection: ("governments should only be concerned with human welfare"
                    argument: "governments are created and supported by humans");

    "governments should enforce animals' moral rights"
      specialization: "governments should prevent animal cruelty";

  moral_rights_of_non-human_animals
   specialization: "humans should be concerned with animal welfare",
   url: http://wikireason.net/wiki/Category:Animal_Rights
        http://wikireason.net/wiki/Animal_rights_logic_tree
        http://wikireason.net/wiki/Wikireason:Logic_tree;

"humans should be concerned with animal welfare"
  specialization: "humans should avoid killing animals"
                  "humans should avoid inflicting pain to animals"
                  "the welfare of humans does not have a higher priority
                   than the welfare of animals",                  
  opposition: ("humans have no obligations towards non-human animals"
                 specialization: "a person should treat animals in whatever way 
                                  serves his interests");

"the welfare of humans has a higher priority than the welfare of animals"
  opposition: "the welfare of humans does not have a higher priority
               than the welfare of animals",
  specialization: "harming animals is better than harming humans"
                  "killing animals is better than killing humans"
                  "experimentation on animals is ok",
  argument: "human life has more value than other animals' life",
  objection: - "it is ok to make a decision for another being if she cannot consent"
             - "animals cannot consent",
  argument: - "it is not ok to make a decision for another being if she cannot consent"
            - "animals cannot consent" 
    (objection: "if they could consent, animals would probably not agree
                 that 'the welfare of humans has a higher priority than 
                 the welfare of animals'");


"humans should avoid inflicting pain to animals"
  specialization: "experimentation on animals is not ok",
  argument: "animal life has moral value";
               
"the killing_of_animals_by_humans should be avoided"
  specialization: "humans should not kill animals"
                  "humans should avoid eating animals"
                  "experimentation on animals is not ok",
    argument: - "animal life has moral value"
              - "humans should not destroy life that has moral value if
                 this does not improve their own chances of survival"
              - "humans can survive without killing animals"
              - ("if it is possible to survive by a course of action, then
                  no further action is required to improve chances of survival"
                    objection: "possible survival is not guaranteed survival");

     "humans should not kill animals"
       argument: - "animal life has moral value"
                 - ("humans should never destroy any life that has moral value"
                      objection: - "humans should act to maximize the survival
                                    of life with moral value"
                                 - "under some conditions, eating an animal will
                                    allow a human to survive"
                                 - "human life has more value than other animals' life");

//VALUE
"animal life has moral value"
  specialization: "a non-human animal life has the same value as a human life",
  argument: "many animals are sentient creatures and experience suffering",
  instance of: meaningless_statement
    (argument: "since animals cannot behave in a moral manner, animal life cannot
                have a moral value or, even it it does, this cannot be used as an 
                argument nor an objection to any other proposition)");

"human life has more value than other animals' life"
  opposition: ("any animal life has the same value as a human life"
                 argument: "animals are similar to humans according to criteria
                            relevant for judging the value of a life (they are alive,
                            they can experience pain, ...)"),
  instance of: meaningless_statement
    (argument: ("measuring something without respect to a purpose is meaningless"
                  argument: - "a purpose gives criteria for measurements"
                            - "measuring something without a criterion (or several
                               criteria and a function to compare them) is meaningless")),
  argument: - "animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans"
            - "the ability to reason and communicate are relevant criteria to judge
               the value of a life";

"the ability to reason and communicate are relevant criteria to judge the value of a life"
  objection: "to judge if pain can be inflicted to an animal in order to avoid 
              inflicting pain to a person, the animal's ability to reason and
              communicate are much less relevant than the amount of pain that 
              it will suffer compared to the amount of pain that the person
              would otherwise suffer";


//propositions indirectly related to animal rights:

"humans can survive without killing animals"
  argument: - "humans can eat plants"
            - ("eating plants does not require killing animals"
                 objection: "cultivation of crops kills animals through trauma
                             (plough cutting worm) and habitat destruction");

"animals cannot communicate as well as humans"
  specialization: "animals cannot communicate"
                  "animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans";

  "animals cannot communicate"
    objection: "most animals communicate with animals of the same species";

  "animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans"
    specialization: "animals do not reason and communicate";

    "animals do not reason and communicate"
      objection: "all mammals reason and communicate"
                 "most animals communicate with animals of the same species"
                 "some primates will barter goods and services";

"animals cannot reason as well as humans"
  specialization: "animals cannot reason"
                  "animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans";

  "animals cannot reason"
   specialization: "animals act on instinct alone";

   "animals act on instinct alone"
     objection: "decision and instinct must be defined to be debatable"
                "many animals do appear to make simple decisions"
                ("many animals change behavior in response to experience"
                   example: "an adult dog is less subject to innately
                             programmed-instinctual-behavior than puppies");

"an adult dog is less subject to innately
 programmed-instinctual-behavior than puppies"
  argument: ("dogs may be observed making cognitive mistakes that seem 
              characteristic of non-instinctual processing"
                example: "making the mistake of assuming that a house in a
                          subdivision which is based on the same house model
                          as the home just moved into is the home even though
                          it is several blocks away"),
            ("instinct is a behavioral pattern innate and general to a species,
              which appears at a given developmental stage and does not 
              extinguish in response to experience"
                example: "humans are generally born with a 'rooting reflex',
                          which is seen in infants as a sucking response in 
                          response to gentle touch around the mouth; this
                          disappears as the individual acquires behavioral 
                          control in succeeding months; however, in individuals
                          experiencing brain damage, the 'suppressed' response 
                          will reappear and be outside control by the individual");