ACBS 160D1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 53: University College London, Bull-Baiting, Jeremy Bentham
7 Dec 2016
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Document Summary
Ranking of human suffering versus animal suffering- Animals may suffer but is human suffering more important. Long history of addressing these issues after post-domestication human- Humans different based on superior and unique qualities: language, Humans on continuum within animalia , difference in degree. Ethical approaches to animal suffering animal divide rationality, soul. Time of bear baiting, bull baiting, cock fighting were popular in england. Challenged the prevailing notion that animals are brutes with no souls, no reason and no rights. Argued that what is important is not reason, but the ability to suffer. Bentham believed that all human actions are motivated by pleasure and pain--that happiness is the sole end off all human action, or, likewise, to reduce suffering. Reasoned that to extent other animals can suffer, they too, like our fellow human beings, deserve our moral consideration. Conclusion: an act is right if it produces more happiness-- greater happiness for all affected by the action.
