Speciesism in Humans - Essay Example

? Philosophy With the last man departing from this planet, it is true that the instrumental value of redwood turns to nil from human view point but not from the view point of other species as they will continue to live on this earth. Redwood continues to have intrinsic value as many species of birds and mammals make their nest high in the canopy of redwood trees and survive. But what if other species also depart from Earth? Still redwood would continue to have its intrinsic value. As a human being we may think in terms of only instrumental value but in nature everything has its own intrinsic value regardless of what value we perceive of them from our utility point of view and all those things that have intrinsic value need to be protected. It would be worth exploring the view points of Peter Singer and Holmes Rolston with regard to the last redwood remaining on this earth and how they would have preferred to deal with this enigma. Speciesism in Humans Peter singer argues that human beings since their beginning have indulged into speciesism – a domineering human behavior over nonhumans and that needs to be condemned. Currently, humans treat nonhuman animals in the same fashion as Blacks were treated in the British rule. Peter argues that suffering is the primary feature that brings all animals on the common platform. He cites Bentham's view point and emphasizes that all sentient beings, all human and nonhuman animals included, should be given equal consideration. Using other Animals as Food Peter singer calls human beings as speciesists having a sole intention of dominating other species on this earth. That is why humans use other animals as their food. According to Singer, humans have instrumental value for animal life that is why they use animals to please their palate. It is incorrect to say that animal flesh is needed to fulfill the human needs of proteins. The fact is that many plant proteins such as soy beans and its derivatives provide equally good and high levels of proteins discarding the need of any animal flesh. In this process, humans inflict a great suffering to the animals by killing them. Animals are machines for humans that convert feedstock into meat. At times, animals are confined to a small enclosure until fit to give flesh. Can there be a larger example of human speciesism than this? Suffering – a Sole Decider for Equality Singer further emphasizes that a being, which does not suffer or feel happiness may be treated as unequal. A stone is a typical example of non-suffering when hit by a person on the road. That is how Singer draws a line between all animated and unanimated things in this universe and considers suffering as decisive and sole criteria of equating humans and all animals on the common platform. Philosophers’ Viewpoint Singer states that philosophers mostly defend their preconceived notions of the society they are part of and that also confirms about humans’ speciesist views. While discussing moral and political philosophy, they mostly speak in terms of human equality but never stretch the issue of equality to the other species. Extending this debate Singer asks why Hitler, Stalin, infants and mentally retarded people has a kind of dignity or worth that other animals can never achieve. There are humans that do exist below the level of awareness or self-consciousness due to brain damage yet philosophers never group them with the nonhumans. Rolston and Environment Ethics Rolston's argument goes beyond the humanist way of thinking. He speaks about the environmental ethics that knows no human cultures. Humans know about the ethics in the terms of business ethics, medical ethics, death and life, peace and war but the environment ethics go much beyond. He speaks about the biological conservation that comes out breaking open the shackles of human ethical boundaries. Organism – a Unique Biological Identity Rolston asserts that true respect to the life is possible only when we start thinking in terms of sentient to insentient life. An organism does have its own self-maintaining system to sustain life and reproduce. It makes its own way amidst opportunities and adversities that it is confronted to. It carries its own DNA blue print just like humans and other species. Enzymes, proteins, lipids and all essential life sustaining elements form as per the genetic blue print. Life evolves based on the genetic blue print complete with all information. It is worthwhile to note that the life of organism is not bound by any moral principles as there is none in nature. Its value lies in its achievement for what it is destined. Organism stands for its own life tracking environment. Thus, every organism has its own unique biological identity to sustain its life and that life must be preserved. Species– More Crucial for Life Among species, there is nothing like a bad kind in the ecosystem. If it appears bad then it is due to narrow view point or vision of subjects. The Chlamydia microbe, the disease causing bacteria, may cause death to bighorns but that also causes rise in the population of golden eagle in Yellowstone wild park that prey on the bighorn carcasses. Chlamydia microbe is bad instrumentally for bighorns but is a good kind for eagles. In nature, this is going on for millennia perhaps necessary for functional stability. When something is a bad kind instrumentally, it may be a good kind intrinsically. All natural kinds are good kinds, may be, they may not be called perfect kinds but still they always have intrinsic value in themselves. Species are more precious than individuals. Species have a special significance in an evolutionary ecosystem. Each species represents a dynamic life form in existence since long. Each subsequent generation of an individual continues to represent the same species and that is why a species is more important for sustaining variety in life. The species have own individuality. Author argues that it is more important to protect species than to protect individuals. The species have survived over millennia and must be allowed to survive in order to let the life evolve further. Loss of Species means Permanent Loss of Life When a species dies, a whole stream of life also dies. Extinction of a species means a life in its wholeness is eliminated from this earth -- nothing of its kind will take birth on this planet ever! Lost species are lost for good; however, that is not true for individuals. If species are there, individuals can be produced. Those who advocate for life on Earth need to think about the species first and then about individuals. All human endeavors are toward maximizing their own species interests and such behaviors are anti-life. In this perspective, humans certainly lack adaptive fitness to evolutionary processes that go on since millennia. It is justified not to kill individuals but more than that it makes sense to protect species and not to let them finish. Ecosystems – a Life Sustaining Process The conservative ethicists believe that an ecosystem operates in a random way and they do not find it as a good way of organization. Ecosystem has its own role in integrating, and stabilizing the biotic community by various means and that is right thing to happen as emphasized by Aldo Leopold. Even fires in the forest release nutrients, reset ecological succession and recycle materials renewing the biotic community. Ecosystem has no DNA print to organize when compared with plants. Ecosystem operates on the principle where the fittest survive. Ecosystem never defends itself against injury or death. This is in stark contrast to the organism, which exhibits a good model of plan and cooperation. That is so because there is no single program running in ecosystems. Ecosystems may look like as if several pieces of centers are in operation but they are not. All these centers are connected to each other. Evolutionary ecosystem looks for much bigger objective of limiting each kind, making a way for new arrivals and kinds and integrating them together. If organism tends to defend themselves and species tend to increase their kinds, ecosystem has much larger objective in hand to make more of those kinds. Ecosystem is in a constant process of creating species diversification and its richness. Reflection An individual life is certainly important but more than that the important thing is the stream of lives that flourishes and evolves in various forms on this Earth. A loss of one form of life is a huge loss as with that all past history of it also vanishes. When seen in this perspective, a life in the form of last redwood on this earth is not only extremely important but indispensable and should never be allowed to vanish from this Earth. With the last man departing, redwood may not be of any instrumental value but still redwood does have intrinsic value. It is a last species of its kind and its preservation is necessary for that form of life to sustain on this planet. It is quietly like that Singer would not have cared for last redwood as no suffering can be inflicted upon it and as per his criteria redwood cannot be given the same value as humans or other animals would have on this Earth. Rolston's way of holistic thinking is much more relevant than merely thinking in terms of sentient and non sentient beings as proposed by Singer. Humans have their own way of evaluation but nature's way of evaluation is much broader and much deeper. Humans are usually concerned with only instrumental value of the things but in nature everything has its own intrinsic value and that is what matters most. Works-Cited Rolston, Holmes. "Environmental Ethics: Values in and Duties to the Natural World". The Broken Circle: Ecology, Economics, Ethics. Yale University Press, New Haven. 1991. Also Available at Retrieved May 30, 2012, Singer, Peter. "All Animals Are Equal". Animal Rights and Human Obligations. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1989, pp. 148-162, Also Available at Retrieved May 30, 2012. Read More