Deck 40: Speciesism and the Idea of Equality Bonnie Steinbock

Question 1

Steinbock argues that human lives are _______ valuable than nonhuman lives.

A) only sometimes more
B) intrinsically neither more nor less
C) intrinsically less
D) intrinsically more

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Steinbock identifies _______ as a distinctively human capacity endowing our species with a privileged position in the moral community.

A) autonomy
B) moral responsibility
C) the desire for self-respect
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Being capable of altruistic motivation requires that one have the capacity to

A) recognize the fact that the needs and desires of others provide one with certain reasons for acting.
B) feel sympathy.
C) feel pity.
D) speak a natural language.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The main point of disagreement between Singer and Steinbock is whether

A) the lives of normal humans should be valued more highly than the lives of nonhumans.
B) differences in capacities are relevant to moral equality.
C) nonhumans deserve legal protections against abuse.
D) modern humans in industrial societies are entitled to eat animals.

Question 5

Regarding nonhumans, Steinbock believes humans are morally

A) permitted to disregard their interests.
B) obligated to consider their interests but not weigh them equally with human interests.
C) obligated to consider their interests on some but not all occasions.
D) required to weigh equally the interests they share with humans.

Question 6

Steinbock regards a certain minimum level of intelligence that is normal for humans as

A) irrelevant to moral equality but emotionally significant for most humans.
B) a point on a spectrum of sentience that includes both humans and nonhumans.
C) a boundary line giving those above it privileged moral status.
D) morally irrelevant.

Question 7

According to Steinbock, the value of a being's life is not easily separated from the value of its

A) freedom.
B) suffering.
C) use for human purposes.
D) social relationships.

Question 8

Steinbock cites which of the following reactions to the use of mentally handicapped humans in medical research as reasonable?

A) Endorsement
B) Indifference
C) Horror
D) Ambivalence

Question 9

About severely handicapped humans, normal humans may have which of the following morally correct attitudes?

A) "That could be me."
B) "That being is incapable of forming social relationships."
C) "That being is suitable for use in painful medical experiments."
D) "That being has the same moral status as a nonhuman animal with comparable mental powers."

Question 10

Steinbock concludes her discussion by claiming that extending special care to vulnerable members of our own species, including the severely handicapped, is

A) not wrong.
B) morally good but not required.
C) morally wrong.
D) morally neutral.

Question 11

Steinbock accepts Singer's claim that it is wrong to weigh human interests more heavily than those of animals.

Question 12

Steinbock thinks Singer is right to be skeptical about terms like "intrinsic human dignity."

Question 13

Steinbock rejects as groundless the idea that humans have special moral value.

Question 14

According to Steinbock, it is an affront to the dignity of reasonably intelligent creatures like horses and cows to play the role of a slave.

Question 15

Steinbock believes that having a desire for self-respect requires intellectual abilities typical of human beings.

Question 16

According to Steinbock, animals' lack of uniquely human capacities such as autonomy entitles humans to do with them as we please.

Question 17

Steinbock claims that Singer's position relies on treating sentience alone as the source of a being's moral value.

Question 18

Steinbock admits that the status of severely handicapped humans poses an insurmountable obstacle to the notion that humans have a privileged moral status.

Question 19

Steinbock believes that feeling and sentiment have little relevance within philosophically mature moral thinking.

Question 20

According to Singer, we are not morally required to equally value the lives of normal humans and nonhumans, but only their suffering.

Question 21

Steinbock thinks any human can look at a severely disabled human and think, "That could be me," but cannot do this in the case of nonhumans. What is the moral significance of this fact, according to her? Is she right that it is a fact? If so, what significance do you think it has?

Question 22

What moral difference does Steinbock think the capacity for responsibility makes to a being's moral value? Is her position here tenable?

Question 23

Steinbock argues that our treatment of other beings should be guided by moral recognition of the desires and interests of which such beings are capable. This seems very similar to Peter Singer's principle of equal consideration of interests. Are Steinbock and Singer relying upon the same moral principle to arrive at different conclusions about the relative moral statuses of humans and animals? If so, are they right? If not, whose position is more persuasive? Explain.