Academic Papers

An online library of scholarly essays and articles

on topics related to "animal issues"

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Animal Pleasure and its Moral Significance  by Jonathan Balcombe

• This paper presents arguments for, and evidence in support of, the important role of pleasure in the lives of other animals and outlines its considerable significance to humankind’s relationship to other animals. It argues that when we see other animals as only the products of a competitive struggle for survival, we risk overlooking the positive qualities of their lives.

Aquatic animals, cognitive ethology, and ethics: questions about sentience and other troubling issues that lurk in turbid water  by Marc Bekoff

• Marc Bekoff argues that we owe aquatic animals respect and moral consideration just as we owe respect and moral consideration to all other animal beings, regardless of the taxonomic group to which they belong.

Cognitive ability and sentience: Which aquatic animals should be protected?  by D. M. Broom

• D. M. Broom considers the levels of cognitive ability in animals, which animals are sentient, which animals have feelings such as pain and which animals should be protected
  
  

**NEW**  Fish Intelligence, Sentience and Ethics   by Culum Brown

• Culum Brown explores the current state of knowledge of fish cognition, starting with sensory perception and moving onto cognition. 

On the Very Idea of Criteria for Personhood  by Timothy Chappell

• Timothy Chappell examines the familiar criterial view of personhood, according to which the possession of personal properties such as self-consciousness, emotionality, sentience, and so forth is necessary and sufficient for the status of a person.

Veganism and Living Well  by Christopher Ciocchetti

• Christopher Ciocchetti looks at three specific arguments that connect some aspect of our culinary practices to a meaningful life; and whether they can defend the meaningful omnivore's position. 

‘Getting [green] Beef’?  by Matthew Cole

• A vegan response to The Ecologist magazine’s ‘Meat: Eco Villain or Victim of Spin?

Moral Vegetarianism from a Very Broad Basis by David DeGrazia

• Is there a basis for vegetarianism that doesn't depend on strong notions of rights or equal consideration? Prof. DeGrazia defends the thesis that there is.
  

Eating Meat and Eating People  by Cora Diamond

• Cora Diamond responds to a certain type of argument defending the rights of other animals. 

The Predation Argument by Charles K. Fink

• Charles K. Fink examines three versions of what may sometimes be referred to as "the predation argument." 
  
  

What is Speciesism? by Oscar Horta

• Members of the "animal advocacy" community use the word 'speciesism'. Dr. Horta makes the case for a clear and concise definition of the word.
  

Animal Thoughts on Factory Farms: Michael Leahy, Language and Awareness of Death by Rebekah Humphreys

• This paper aims to explore and challenge both the idea that thought and emotion require language and that only humans possess language.
  

The Boundaries of the Moral (and Legal) Community by Brian Leiter

• Brian Leiter explains "the expanding moral community in terms of biological, psychological, and economic developments, not increased moral knowledge".
  
  
  

**NEW**  Occam's Razor and Veganism  by Benny Malone

• Benny Malone draws an analogy to Occam's razor in the exclusion of that which is unnecessary and causes suffering to other animals. 

Nonhuman Animals in Adam Smith's Moral Theory by Alejandra Mancilla

• Alejandra Mancilla writes about two particular aspects of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). 
  
  

Expected utility, contributory causation and vegetarianism  by Gaverick Matheny

• Gaverick Matheny speaks about act-utilitarianism and the ‘causal inefficacy’ defence of buying meat. 

Deep Ecology and Animal Rights: A discussion paper  by David Orton

• A contribution towards a discussion on understanding the similarities and differences between the deep ecology and the animal rights movements.
  

Moral Agency in Mammalia by Mark D. Reid

• Are humans the only moral agents? Dr. Reid thinks not and presents evidence and arguments that some nonhuman species act in the consideration of others.

THE CASE FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS  by Tom Regan

• Tom Regan begins by asking how the moral status of animals has been understood by thinkers who deny that animals have rights.
  
  

Utilitarianism and Replaceability or Are Animals Expendable?  by Stefan Sencerz

• Stefan Sencerz critiques a paper by L. A. Kemmerer by defending Peter Singer, and more generally utilitarianism, arguing that, on a utilitarian outlook, some animals are replaceable in principal, but few are replaceable in practice. 
  

Scientific knowledge suppresses but does not supplant earlier intuitions.  by Andrew Shtulman and Joshua Valcarcel

• Andrew Shtulman and Joshua Valcarcel write about the difficulties we may encounter in changing our attitudes, despite being presented with scientific evidence that suggests our outdated and naive views may be inaccurate.

The Animal Liberation Movement  by Peter Singer

• Peter Singer writes about the ideas behind the animal liberation movement and where it is heading. 

Speciesism and Moral Status  by Peter Singer

• Can the mere difference of species determine moral status? 

The Chicken Challenge ~ What Contemporary Studies of Fowl Mean for Science and Ethics by Carolynn L. Smith and Jane Johnson  

• The authors provide numerous examples of chickens using complex forms of communication, similar to that observed in many primates. 

Can the Treatment of Animals be Compared to the Holocaust? by David Sztybel 

• David Sztybel looks at four specific objections to this comparison, to reflect on the significance of how other animals are treated in contemporary times.

A Living Will Clause for Supporters of Animal Experimentation  by David Sztybel

• David Sztybel speaks about humans being willing to sign a living will which consigns themselves to live experimentation if they ever have a similar mental capacity to that which we perceive "laboratory animals" to have. 

The Epistemic Irresponsibility of the Subjects-of-a-Life Account  by Julia Tanner

• Julia Tanner attempts to argue that Tom Regan’s subjects-of-a-life account is epistemically irresponsible. 

All entries under Academic Papers and Journal Articles 

To submit a paper for inclusion in the ARZone library, please contact admin@arzone.net

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