Animal rights the Strength and Weakness - Essay Example

While some argue that humans should be distinguished from the rest of the other animals and that they are in a separate moral category, some are against this ideology. The ones that believe that animals have no moral status will support any treatment to the animals including practices that cause discomfort, pain, suffering and death. Some people treat the animals according to the way they feel is fit for them and their beliefs an action which elicited the need to develop a forum where animal rights could be guarded and this secure them from the jaws of the malicious owners.

Contrary to them, many philosophers believe that though there are differences in all manners of ways between the animals and the humans, there lacks a philosophical defense for denying the animals a moral consideration. The two sides have debated on the justification of these moral rights for ages (Mack, 2012). The philosophers who came forward to develop this argument supported their argument by purporting that since animals have a distinct life just like the humans they also should be considered as living things with their rights no matter how developed they may be closer or further from the humans.

The explanation of various philosophers in regard to the subject will be discussed in the following chapters. It is important to note that the explanation may not give a conclusive decision as what is offered is a mere explanation and leave the reader to decide independently. The Kantian approach towards animals, which is said to have marked progress from Descartes theory that stated that animals were mere automata, acknowledges animal pain. The theory however, still states that animals were not self-conscious and were there merely as a means to an end.

Kant claimed that man’s duties towards the animals were but indirect duties towards humanity. This means that though man should strive to treat the animals well, it was not because he owed them any