Throughout the ages, the Golden Rule has always remained: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 7:12, saying that this brief statement summed up the law. Usually interpreted as a mandate pertaining solely to human beings, Christine Stevens, an animal rights activist, took the Golden Rule a step further. She stated that the law not only applied to how people treat other humans, but to how people treat animals as well. Christine Stevens’ conclusion is flawed and inaccurate. She erroneously concluded that the biblical concept was meant to encompass all animal rights and humans’ treatment of them.
One reason why Christine Stevens’ conclusion is faulty is because, if the Golden Rule did apply to animals, it would prohibit us from clothing ourselves with their skins, using them as a source of food, and using them as a source of profit. It would be a sin to use a human being for any of these things, but it is the norm for animals. In the
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As stated before, God cares about the human race, more so than he does animals. He placed the animals on the earth to meet the needs of mankind, and if the Golden Rule applied to animals’ rights, then mankind wouldn’t be able to use them to meet their needs. This doesn’t mean that animals should be abused, though. Animals are still one of God’s beautiful creations, and he gave us dominion over the animals to protect them and to care for them. In the end, though, God still values human beings more than he does animals.
Christine Stevens’ conclusion is flawed and inaccurate. The Golden Rule does not apply to animal rights and humans’ treatment of them. The Golden Rule is a law that Jesus put in place because he cares for the human race. Although God also loves his other creations, humans are special. The Golden Rule only pertains to how people treat each
The third maxim by Ralph Waldo Emerson is "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. " Emerson is saying that one's open honesty is importantly treasured. One's honesty is more important than following other people's beliefs. The maxim embodies the theme that people respect others' honesty more than emotionless obedience to conventions set forth by someone else.
Humans like to think of themselves as moral, upstanding beings who cognitively and rationally function, but often they are accused of “behaving like animals.” This rationale is a social construct that encompasses the behaviors of people found as unacceptable and shameful to the average population. Although it appears demeaning to compare animals in such a critical manner, there is a clear separation between man and animal that places humans much higher on the scale of civilization. As illustrated in “Water Dog God” by Brad Watson, the lack of civilized presence among people damages the ability for one to understand proper conduct, leading to animal-like behaviors such as the absence of relationship boundaries, limited emotional availability, and no concept of hygiene or social norms. Further, the short story emphasizes the affects of various boundaries that humans cross easily and often due to their distorted nature.
Many Americans blindly believe that animals deserve the same rights as humans, but little do they know about the differences between the welfare of animals and the rights of animals. In the article A Change of Heart about Animals, Jeremy Rifkin cleverly uses certain negative words in order to convince the readers that animals need to be given same rights as humans, and if not more. Research has shown that non-human animals have the ability to “feel pain, suffer and experience stress, affection, excitement and even love” (Rifkin 33). Animals may be able to feel emotions, however this does not necessarily mean that they are able to understand what having rights mean. While humans must accept their moral responsibility to properly care for animals,
He asserts that it is wrong to treat animals as mere means to an end, just as it is wrong to treat humans in this way.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal” (Doc A excerpt 1, Animal Farm Chapters 2-3). Snowball narrowed the commandments down to“four legs good, two legs bad”, which means that all of the animals are equal and friends, and all of the humans are enemies to the animals.
One topic that many scholars are debating right now is the topic of animal rights. The questions are, on what basis are rights given, and do animals possess rights? Two prominent scholars, Tom Regan and Tibor Machan, each give compelling arguments about animal rights, Regan for them and Machan against them. Machan makes the sharp statement, “Animals have no rights need no liberation” (Machan, p. 480). This statement was made in direct opposition to Regan who says, “Reason compels us to recognize the equal inherent value of these animals and, with this, their equal right to be treated with respect” (Regan, p. 477).
I will argue in favor of Regan’s principle that non-human animals should have moral rights. Tom Regan, a famous philosopher, proposed the idea “that animals have rights based on their inherent value as experiencing subjects of life” (Regan). For thousands of years, animals have been used for as pets, food, and labor. Throughout the past century, many philosophers, including Regan, have raised arguments on how we, as humans, are treating animals poorly.
Michael Pollan brings to our attention the arguments that relate to the treatment of animals. He begins his essay with examples talking about how pigs are seen as nothing more than meat and how dogs get their own birthday and Christmas presents. Here he questions how certain animals receive different attitudes from us and makes us think about how each animal has a different fate. Pollan wants us to question ourselves and to look at animals from another perspective and see if they deserve more equality or if we need to have a different attitude towards them all together. These arguments are very effective in that they make us question of whether or not our attitude towards certain animals are different because of how they are used or in our eyes some are just more important than others.
A life is a life, i think that every living organisms on this planet that are breathing are important and we all should treat others with respect and with love. Animals are like us, not physically, but they can feel pain and lonely when we mistreated them in some ways. I believe humanity has the ethical obligation to change their behavior towards animals. In the article, “ A change of Hearts on Animals” written by Jeremy Rifkin stated some of his key points that humans should focuses more on animals’ feelings.
This, he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism.”. Throughout the book the commandments are changed to fit the pigs lifestyle. Animalism was supposed to be used to keep one animal from having more, or less power than the others. One of the commandments states that “5. No animal shall drink alcohol.”.
To begin, when talking about animals it can be a very sensitive subject mainly because the way animals are treated on farms, and how no one feels the need to question these actions. This is because many people feel this issue doesn’t concern them. In this essay Matthew Scully discusses the issue on how animals are treated and how they should be given more respect, and attention. Matthew Scully argues that animals in these factory farms are wrongfully treated, he uses biblical references and addresses the morals of humans to get conservatives to act on this matter.
In Animal Farm, we see the sinister theme of abuse of power and corruption displayed throughout the story. The epitome on how the pigs abused the power was how they manipulated the 7 commandments to their own benefit. The 7 commandments were inscribed on the wall and they would form “an unalterable law by which all animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after”. Ironically, the 7 commandments were changed one by one to suit the benefit of the pigs. For example, when the pigs discovered a case of whiskey and got drunk, they got attracted to the taste of alcohol.
1) The Seven Commandments was propaganda for animalism, which was based on equality and not being humanlike in any way. First, No animal shall wear clothes. This is because by the time the pigs adopt clothes they are so powerful, and the other animals are so fearful, that it is unnecessary; second, whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. Because once they have achieved victory, animals must not emulate Man.
The Golden Rule is endorsed by all the great world religions; Christian, Buddhist, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and so on. Even though the golden rule is considered as the rule to teach you how to respect people and their feelings yet sometimes it can be wrong. When I was in high school a friend of mine commented on my Facebook picture a message that I was not fond of, when I confronted him, he told me that he did not realize it will make me mad, and that that kind of message would not upset him.
They do not breed certain kinds of animals for their food. However, humans breed a certain kind of animals just for food and these animals are always enclosed in a small place. These actions deprive animals’ right and violate the