Citation

Author Website

http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~srlclark/srlc.htm

Thread

Yew-Kwang Ng, How welfare biology and commonsense may help to reduce animal suffering

Abstract

Ng’s laudable concern for animal welfare would be welcome to any sensible slave-owner wishing to preserve his investment. What welfarism – for slave-owners and animal husbandmen – fails to call into question is whether we have the right to breed, hold captive and kill animals at all: If it matters, as the widely recognized slogan of ‘Five Freedoms’ suggests, that animals have the chance to live a ‘normal’ life, then more matters than keeping them ‘happy’ in subjection. Their lives – and also the lives of wild things – also deserve respect.

Author Biography

Stephen R. L. Clark is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Bristol. His books include The Moral Status of Animals (1977), The Nature of the Beast (1982), How to Think about the Earth (1993), Animals and Their Moral Standing (1997), Biology and Christian Ethics (2000), and Plotinus: Myth, Metaphor and Philosophical Practice (2016). http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~srlclark/srlc.htm

DOI

10.51291/2377-7478.1103