Deck 6: Animals, Vegetarianism and Environmental Ethics

Question 1

Singer argues that equal consideration entails equal treatment.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Singer defends the view that the effects of our actions on nonhuman animals have no intrinsic moral significance.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Singer argues that like racisim and sexism, "specisism" is wrong.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Singer compares "animal liberation" with women's liberation.

Question 5

Singer argues that the view that nonhuman animals have no intrinsic moral significance is arbitrary and indefensible.

Question 6

Machan argues (against Singer's view) that animals have no rights and need no liberation.

Question 7

Fox argues from a Utilitarian perspective to the conclusion that the satisfaction humans derive from eating meat outweighs the pain and suffering that is causes animals.

Question 8

R.M. Hare argues that aside from concerns about suffering, it is not wrong to kill animals for meat because without humans raising them for meat, they wouldn't exist.

Question 9

In response to R.M. Hare, Singer argues that a world in which all human beings were vegetarians would be better than a world in which all human beings are demi-vegetarians.

Question 10

The editors of Harvard Law Review, argue in support of a market-oriented approach to carbon emissions on the grounds that any other policy recommendation would represent unwarranted government intrusion into the free market.

Question 11

Singer criticizes speciesism. This is the view that the interests of human beings are more important than the interests of nonhuman animals. Which philosopher does Singer identity with this view?

A) Socrates
B) Aristotle
C) Mill
D) Kant

Question 12

A crucial premise in Singer's argument is his criterion of moral standing. He argues that any being that can feel pain and experience pleasure has moral standing. From what moral theory is Singer arguing?

A) Theory of Natural Law
B) Egoism
C) Utilitarianism
D) Kantianism

Question 13

According to Singer, having this capacity is crucial for having interests-in particular, for having the interest not to be killed.

A) Reason
B) Moral agency
C) Subjective experience
D) All of the above

Question 14

Which of the following is a core question addressed by Singer?

A) How do the effects of our actions on the environment of nonhuman beings figure in our deliberations about what we ought to do?
B) Is it morally permissible to place less value on the interests of non human animals than the interests of human animals?
C) Is it morally permissible to raise and slaughter nonhuman animals for food?
D) All of the above

Question 15

What does Singer say about the capacity for subjective experience?

A) It is a necessary but not sufficient condition for having interests.
B) It is a sufficient but not necessary condition for having interests.
C) It is both necessary and sufficient for having interests.
D) It is neither necessary nor sufficient for having interests.

Question 16

Which of the following best captures Machan's position?

A) Nonhuman animals have no rights.
B) The rights of nonhuman animals should be placed on par with the interests of human beings.
C) Nonhuman animals have rights only insofar as they resemble human beings-i.e., insofar as they are intelligent.
D) All of the above

Question 17

According to Machan, liberation theorists make this mistake.

A) Slippery slope fallacy
B) Category mistake
C) Ad hominem mistake
D) False analogy

Question 18

On what grounds does Fox argue that killing animals is a harm for sentient nonhuman animals?

A) Nonhuman animals show a marked preference to live when their lives are threatened.
B) Nonhuman animals have pleasurable experiences.
C) Each nonhuman animal has an identifiable welfare or state of being it strives to maintain.
D) All of the above

Question 19

According to the editors of Harvard Law Review, how does the offset market undermine the good of being the kind of person who avoids wastefulness?

A) The offset market values efficiency and not the ethic of good character.
B) The offset market allows people to "do their part" without actually changing their behavior.
C) The market dissolves important qualitative distinctions between types of carbon emissions, and in so doing undermines an idea of wastefulness that has been central to environmental ethics.
D) All o the above

Question 20

The key notion underlying the argument advanced by the editors of Harvard Law Review is the notion of __________.

A) Freedom
B) Wastefulness
C) Separation of church and state
D) Adam Smith's Doctrine of the Invisible Hand

Question 21

Carefully explain Singer's argument for the claim that the interests of nonhuman animals must be placed on par with the interests of human beings.

Question 22

Singer argues that we should place the interests of nonhuman animals on par with the interests of human animals. What does this claim imply? Clearly, Singer thinks it implies that we cannot eat meat. But does it also imply that we cannot use animals to test vaccines? The polio vaccine was tested on pigs and developed using chickens. The polio vaccine has saved millions upon millions of lives. Does Singer's view imply that it is wrong to use chickens and pigs to develop (human) life saving vaccines?

Question 23

Singer argues from a Utilitarian perspective. Could one not equally well argue that it is our capacity for higher pleasures in Mill's sense (Mill distinguishes between higher and lower pleasures) that makes our interests count for more than the interests of pigs and chickens? Discuss.

Question 24

Am I being speciesist for allowing my dog to go pee in the front yard but reprimanding my six-year-old if he does the same? How would Singer respond to this criticism?

Question 25

What does it mean to say that equal consideration need not imply equal treatment?

Question 26

Machan argues that human beings are more valuable than nonhuman animals. On what grounds does Machan advance this claim? What exactly is it in virtue of which human beings are more valuable than nonhuman animals? Do you agree or disagree with his claim?

Question 27

Do you eat meat? If so, do you think you are responsible for the harm that animal suffers when it is slaughtered?

Question 28

Fox argues that a commitment to the vegetarian way of life is ethically compelling. Do you agree or disagree with his claim? Discuss.

Question 29

R.M. Hare argues that it is not wrong to raise animals for meat because if humans didn't raise them for meat, they would not have existed. What would Hare say about hunting and fishing?

Question 30

Rolston argues that plants have more value than rivers and missiles. How does Singer respond to this claim?

Question 31

Do you agree with the editors of Harvard Law Review that unnecessary wastefulness is a vice? Do an Internet search for "consumer society". Compare and contrast the values implicit in the position advanced by the editors of Harvard Law Review and the values that seem to underlie a successful consumer based capitalist economy.