Animals and Morality 動物與道德

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Animals and Morality 動物與道德費昌勇教授台灣大學獸醫學院

2013 動物權課程

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What are ethics ?何謂 “倫理學” ?

• Ethics deal with what is good or bad, right or wrong 倫理學是討論我們對於好壞、是非的價值觀，以及我們該如何行為過日子

• Ethical theory is a branch of philosophy 倫理學是哲學的分支• BUT ethics are a part of everyday life: 但倫理學是每日生活的一部分：– Our everyday actions impact on the interests of

others 我們每天的行為影響著他人的利益2013 動物權課程

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Branches of Ethics 倫理學的分支Personal Ethics個人倫理

Societal Ethics社會倫理

Professional Ethics職業倫理


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Moral justification 道德證成• 道德證成的過程代表了一個公正的立場 ---其證成的理由不僅說的人自己要承認，還要普遍的被大眾所承認。• The practice of moral justification suggests an

impartial standpoint - its justifying reasons must be recognised not just by the person making them but by persons generally.


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Moral absolutism 道德之絕對主義• Moral absolutism is an ethical view that certain

actions are absolutely right or wrong, regardless of other circumstances such as their consequences or the intentions behind them.

• Moral absolutism stands in contrast to other categories of ethical theories such as consequentialism (teleology), which holds that the morality of an act depends on the consequences or the context of the act.


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Deontology 義務論 • It holds the ethical position that judges the morality of an

action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules. It is sometimes described as "duty" or "obligation" or "rule" -based ethics, because rules "bind you to your duty".

• Kantian ethics: Immanuel Kant's theory of ethics is considered deontological for several different reasons.

• First, Kant argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act from duty (deon).

• Second, Kant argued that it was not the consequences of actions that make them right or wrong but the motives of the person who carries out the action.


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Moral relativism 道德之相對主義• Moral relativism may be any of several philosophical positions

concerned with the differences in moral judgments across different people and cultures.

• Moral relativism has been espoused ( 信奉 ), criticized, and debated for thousands of years, from ancient Greece and India down to the present day, in diverse fields including philosophy, science, and religion. For example, the Greek philosopher Protagoras (c. 481 – 420 BC) famously asserted that "man is the measure of all things". The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 – 420 BC) observed that each society regards its own belief system and way of doing things as better than all others.


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Teleology / Consequentialism 結果論• The broad spectrum of consequentialist ethics, of which

utilitarianism is likely the most well-known, focuses on the end result or consequences, with such maxims as utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill's "the greatest good for the greatest number", or the maximum utility. Hence they are teleological in nature.

• This is in contrast with deontological ethics, such as Immanuel Kant's the Categorical Imperative, in which an end result or consequences are less important, or even irrelevant, but the action itself, the means or will, is the focus.


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近代哲學家對道德之看法• 史賓諾沙 Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) notably held that nothing is

inherently good or evil. • 休姆 David Hume (1711–1776) distinguished between matters of fact and

matters of value, and suggested that moral judgments consist of the latter, for they do not deal with verifiable facts obtained in the world, but only with our sentiments and passions. Hume famously denied that morality has any objective standard.

• 尼采 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) believed that we have to assess the value of our values since values are relative to one's goals and one's self. He emphasized the need to analyze our moral values and how much impact they may have on us. The problem with morality is that those who were considered “good” were the powerful nobles who had more education, and considered themselves better than anyone below their rank. Thus, what is considered good is relative.


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Evolution of morality 道德之演化• The evolution of morality refers to the emergence of human moral

behavior over the course of human evolution. Morality can be defined as a system of ideas about right and wrong conduct. In everyday life, morality is typically associated with human behavior and not much thought is given to the social conducts of other creatures.

• Evolutionary biology and in particular sociobiology have argued that, though human social behaviors are complex, the precursors of human morality can be traced to the behaviors of many other social animals.

• Socio-biological explanations of human behavior are still controversial. The traditional view of social scientists has been that morality is a construct, and is thus culturally relative.


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社會生物學 Sociobiology• Sociobiology is based on the premise that some behaviors (both

social and individual) are partly inherited and can be affected by natural selection. It predicts that animals will act in ways that have proven to be evolutionarily successful over time. This can, among other things, result in the formation of complex social processes conducive to evolutionary fitness.

• The discipline seeks to explain behavior as a product of natural selection. Behavior is therefore seen as an effort to preserve one's genes in the population. Inherent in sociobiological reasoning is the idea that certain genes or gene combinations that influence particular behavioral traits can be inherited from generation to generation.


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天性道德 Instinctive morality

• The instinctive moral laws take two forms: the universal codes, which apply to all life; and the social codes, that are specific to gregarious creatures. – Universal morality governs interaction between

members of the same species. – Social morality allows groups of same-species animals to

live and interact in close proximity to one another, and to function as a unit: as the sum of the individuals.

• The instinctive laws are only broken by mentally, or genetically, damaged creatures; and by man.


正義 Justice

• According to most contemporary theories of justice, justice is overwhelmingly important: John Rawls claims that "Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.”

• Justice can be thought of as distinct from and more fundamental than benevolence, charity, mercy, generosity, or compassion.


天性道德實驗 Morality of instinct• Studies at UCLA in 2008 have indicated that reactions to

fairness are "wired" into the brain and that, "Fairness is activating the same part of the brain that responds to food in rats... This is consistent with the notion that being treated fairly satisfies a basic need".

• Research conducted in 2003 at Emory University, Georgia, USA, involving Capuchin Monkeys demonstrated that other cooperative animals also possess such a sense and that "inequity aversion may not be uniquely human” indicating that ideas of fairness and justice may be instinctual in nature.


Instinctive behavior

• A relatively complex response pattern which is usually present in one or both sexes of a given species. These responses have a genetic basis, are essentially unlearned, and are generally adaptive.

• Example: wolves, human Incest is not accepted in terms of morality.


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Moral agency• Moral agency is an individual's ability to make moral judgments based on

some commonly held notion of right and wrong and to be held accountable for these actions. A moral agent is "a being who is capable of acting with reference to right and wrong.”

• Most philosophers suggest only rational beings, who can reason and form self-interested judgments, are capable of being moral agents. Some suggest those with limited rationality (for example, people who are mildly mentally disabled or infants) also have some basic moral capabilities.

• Many philosophers, such as Kant, view morality as a transaction among rational parties, i.e., among moral agents. For this reason, they would exclude nonhuman animals from moral consideration.

• Utilitarian philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and Peter Singer have argued the key to inclusion in the moral community is not rationality, but the real object of moral action is the avoidance of suffering.


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Moral patient• Traditionally, only rational human beings can be moral agents, for they must

hold responsibility for their actions. Children and brain-damaged people, are not regarded as moral agents. However, they are still protected from suffering by moral laws.

• Moral patients cannot follow moral principles and rules. They can bring about great pain and even disasters to others, but we cannot say that they are morally wrong for doing that. Equally, their acts may bring about good consequences, but we do not say that they are morally right for performing them.

• Moral agents can act wrongly or rightly in ways that affect moral patients, but moral patients cannot act reciprocally toward moral agents.

• Contemporary environmental ethics claims that the scope of moral patients should not only include marginal human beings, but also sentient animals, and even the whole biocommunity.


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Five animal ethics views

1. The Contractarian View: “Morality is based on agreement” 2. The Utilitarian View: “Morality is about maximising human

and animal well-being”3. The Relational View: “Morality grows out of our

relationship with animals and one another”4. The Animal Rights View: “Good results cannot justify evil

means”5. The Respect for Nature view: “We have a duty to protect

not just individual animals, but the species to which they belong – and, in particular, the integrity of each species.”


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1. The Contractarian View 契約論• “ 道德的基礎乃為協定” • 動物既沒有創造道德責任也不具有道德責任。然而，我們對動物還是有一種間接的道德義務 (extrinsic value=instrumental

value) ，因為牠們與人類的生活息息相關。


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說話方式 --- 間接利益1. 我們應當重視動物福利，因為消費者如此要求，而我們想將產品賣給他們。2. 由於公眾的反對，我們應該盡己所能地去避免使用貓、狗、猴子和其他有感覺能力的物種來做研究。3. 我必須善待動物到我需要達到的目標，但我不認為值得我付出更多。4. 為了要加強動物實驗的精緻度，我們應當關心動物福利。


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2. The Utilitarian View 效益主義• 「道德是人類與動物福利的最大化」• 在面對選擇時，我們應當考慮動物福利可能帶來的結果以及對人類的潛在利益。• 如果所有因素都考慮到且能提升動物福利「淨值 net increase 」的情況下，對動物福利有負面衝擊的作法仍然可以被合理化。• 假設農場的狀況對動物福利無害，並且屠宰過程是處理的很人道的話，屠宰動物（做為食物）可能會被證明是正當的。


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說話方式 --- 效益結果論1. 近代農場動物的問題，在於動物福利的負面效果無法抵銷人類所獲得之利益。2. 有些動物實驗是可被允許的，因為這些實驗讓我們找到減緩疾病痛苦的治療方法。3. 有時候，安樂死對街貓比較好，否則牠們將痛苦的活著。對剩下來的街貓來說，這也是比較好的，因為牠們的食物競爭將會減少。


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3. The Relational View 關係主義• 「道德產生於我們與動物彼此間的關係」• 我們對動物的責任由彼此是否親近來決定。• 我們對待動物的方式將會影響我們如何對待人類。故，對動物不好是錯的，因為這種行為所反映出來的道德態度可能導致一個人對其他人不好。• 關係理論家通常都喜歡更進一步地主張親密的關係無論何時都應該被鼓勵，因為友誼本來就是有價值的。


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說話方式 ---友誼1. 狗是人類最好的朋友，所以對待牠們應該要比對待農場動物和實驗動物更好。2. 除了盡可能地有效地清除牠們之外，我們對於諸如野鼠和家鼠等的有害動物是沒有義務的。


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4. The Animal Rights View 動物權• 「善的結果也不能使惡的手段合理化」• 一個說法為動物有權利，另一種說法則闡明牠們有哪些權利──這顯示動物權主義具有某種程度的激烈性。• 最激進的動物權擁護者堅持動物享有與人類相同的權利。這個觀點顯然不包括言論自由這項人類特有的權利，但應包括不為人類利益而遭宰殺的權利（除了人類自我防衛的前提下）。


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說話方式1. 動物不是我們的奴隸。2. 動物有與生俱來的存在價值，這個價值應當被尊重。3. 無論結果有多好，動物實驗仍然不能被允許。


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5. Environmentalism 環境主義• 「我們有義務要保護的不僅僅只是動物本身，而是他所屬的物種，尤其是各物種的完整性。」• 物種的滅絕並非娛樂資源的喪失，而是關係到一個物種本身的價值，而這個價值將不復存。• 由於保存物種本身是符合道德的，我們應當尊重自然和它豐富的基因結構，不應該對物種進行基因改造，因為那是一種不尊重的干涉。• 引申的觀點是不應干涉動物的自然型態，包括傳統上的育種。


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說話方式• 應當停止繼續改造物種。• 應當停止繼續育種。• 應當保護瀕臨絕種的物種使牠們免於滅絕。• 自然應當順其發展。


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• 勞倫斯在「人類遇到狗」(Man Meets Dog, 1954)中寫道：「動物在最自然的情況下，天生的傾向和他們 “應該”做的事是互不矛盾的，而這是人類已失去的天堂境界。」


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Animals and Morality 動物與道德