Animals who are able to surpass these barriers are able to receive our empathy and their rights, but in Jeremy Rifkin’s, “A Change of Heart About Animals,” he talks ideas about all animals should receive our empathy for great acts of the few. The individual animal receive its equal rights, not by a single entity achieving it for the mass, but by the individual must showing intelligences, emotions and feelings, and most importantly, the ability to co-exist with others; including human and other animals alike. An animal must show intelligences, the ability to communicate, solve problems, and follow simple instructions. In “A Change of Heart About Animals,” Rifkin refers to a gorilla, named Koko, who learned sign language.
In the article titled "A Change of Heart About Animals," (2003), author Jeremy Rifkin addresses that contrary to previous research and discovery, new breakthroughs in science are finding that animals are more comparable to humans than we once thought, and as a result, human empathy should be extended towards them. Rifkin supports his claim by providing numerous examples of studies that show capabilities of animals to make tools (crows), develop complex language skills (Gorilla), and present signs of self-awareness (Orangutan); things once believed only to be human characteristics (Rifkin 7, 8, 10). The author's purpose is to inform and convince the readers that empathy should be inclusive to all animals by providing a multitude of studies,
Your newspaper recently published an editorial by Jeremy Rifkin author of the Biotech Century “A Change of heart about animals” in which he suggests that animals deserve empathy from humans because they are also capable of intelligence. Rifkin explains many studies on animals that have proven that animals are intelligent and for that reason they deserve empathy(33-34).I'm of two minds about Jeremy Rifkin's claim that empathy should be extended to animals. On the one hand, I agree that animals are more like us than we think, so empathy shall be given to them. On the other hand, I'm not sure if extending empathy to animals is a good idea because it would affect the economy, slow down medical advancements, and hurt humans by having to convert to a meat free diet (vegetarians).
Every year in Africa many elephants and giraffes are euthanized because they get too comfortable around humans, putting the human species in danger. Lennie can be compared to these animals because he gets too comfortable around people such as Curley’s wife, or
Animal rights and livestock farming Many of us, nowadays, eat and enjoy eating meat but many would agree that this is actually not an ethical action. Michael Pollan, in his persuasive style article “An Animal's Place" published in The New Work Times Magazine, on November 10, 2002 intends to persuade his audience that humans should respect animals and as long as they are treated well in farms and give them a more peaceful life and death it will be fine to eat them. According to Pollan, in today's huge industrial farms, cruel and unbearable things happen that are against animals rights. There is a high possibility that in the future these actions will stop as already some protest for animal rights have begun, because animals have feelings and farms take advantage of them thinking that they are mere machines, making them suffer. The solution to this conflict according to the author who supports friendly farms that respect and give a fun and secure life for animals.
A group of teenagers stole a puppy from his owners garden and abused him for hours. According to an RSPCA inspector, this is one of the worst cases the inspector had ever seen. The tiny chihuahua yorkshire terrier mix, named Chunky, was kicked, burned, hit, fed drugs, and had his neck squeezed before being left for dead. The eight month dog was eventually found and taken to a vet immediately. After four months, Chunky has fully recovered physically and is nice and playful.
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,
In the article “A Change of Heart About Animals” by Jeremy Rifkin published in the Los Angeles Times on September 1, 2003 Rifkin advocates for the ethical treatment of animals and discusses how people perceive, and at times underestimate, animals and their abilities. Two letters were written, one by Lois Frazier and the other by Bob Stevens, to Rifkin in response to “A Change of Heart About Animals” and were published in the Los Angeles Times editorial section. Each letter expresses the author’s individual opinion on Rifkin’s convictions. Rifkin uses scientific studies, such as the ones conducted at Purdue University on pigs’ social behavior (Source #1 par. 4), to support his belief that
This editorial is about Wright’s interview with animal rights activists; who statements make extremist pronouncements but then changes rhetoric, this made Wright disappointed in the activists. The editorial has content of various interviews done with different groups of animal rights activist. The information in this editorial will serve as a support in the paragraph of how strong animal rights have become by providing examples of how the activist goes to various places to burn down labs that unnecessarily experiment on animals. The source has philosophical comparison between humans and animals that can make humans subconscious about animal welfare. The information supplied by this editorial is different from my other sources because it concentration
In the op-ed piece “A Change of Heart about Animals”, Jeremy Rifkin emphasizes the similarities between humans and animals by providing results on scientific research studies to illustrate that humans should be more empathetic towards animals. In addition, he further explains how research results have changed the ways humans perceived animals and indicates solutions that were taken by other countries and organizations to help improve and protect animal rights. Rifkin provides examples that demonstrate animals have emotions, conceptual abilities, self awareness, and a sense of individualism just like humans. For example, Pigs crave for affection and get depressed easily when isolated, two birds Betty and Abel have tool making skills, Koko
Connecting dramatic tales from the animal kingdom with considerate philosophical analysis, de Waal seeks a bottom-up explanation of morality that emphasizes our connection with animals. The morality that de Waal leaps bottom-up from our emotions and our day-to-day social interactions, which themselves evolved from foundations in animal
Although Jeremy Rifkin, Bob stevens, and Lois Frazier have all written about their view on animals and how they are treated globally, but when bringing in animal rights groups like ASPCA and PETA, different bias and tactics are newly introduced. Of all the articles, Jeremy Rifkin uses the most credible sources such as lab studies and examples. In the article “A Change of Heart about Animals” Rifkin uses sources such as Purdue University and the European union when talking about situations. One situation he writes about is how pigs need social activity so the pigs are not “lacking mental and physical stimuli [which] hand result in deterioration of health”.
Elephants now join an elite club of social cooperator that helps us understand the skill that they have and how they use them. Elephants, both African and Asian have long been classified as an empathetic animal for an extended amount of time. In the first two articles “Elephants can lend a helping trunk,” and “Elephants know…” share the experiments and trials that help people understand the elephant's behavior. In the article " Elephants console..." has a different way of showing elephants action towards each other; however, all three articles share similarities.
As the article The Elephant within suggests, “It 's hard enough to interpret other humans ' thoughts and motives--let alone an animal’s.” An elephant remembers its entire life. They have memory power that reaches beyond the capability of even humans. They, as a species, do not deserve to ever be
Animals that live their entire lives in confinement have many lasting health conditions. On more than one occasion, it has been reported specifically on elephants that the constant confinement and stress send elephants into a deep depression. Elephants experience similar emotions to us humans: joy, compassion, sadness, and grief. Many circus animals become dysfunctional, unhealthy, depressed, and aggressive as a result of unnatural and unrelenting confinement in which they are kept and treated (Last Chance for Animals,
