From Where Does Animal Value Come?

Animal value stems from a variety of different sources, and is incremental depending on those sources. The foundational capacity for value comes from sentience - the ability to experience and process pain and enjoyment. The capacity for sentience gives an organism a value that demands freedom from harm and the cessation of enjoyment. There are also a number of other factors that give an organism value: intelligence, ability to learn, instrumental value, et cetera. These capacities comes in different degrees, and is therefore incremental. An organism with a higher capacity to experience pain is more valuable in that way, than an organism with a lower capacity to experience pain.

These differences may be relevant in some situations, but they do not generally make a difference so long as we accept the basic value of animals and the treatment that such a value would warrant. A random pig because of it's higher sentience and intelligence, has a higher moral value than a random cow. This does not mean that we should treat cows less well, it means that when forced to choose one animal worse, we ought to choose to treat the cow worse. In most everyday situations, this is irrelevant, but that does not mean that it is entirely useless.

What I Took Away From This Class

I started this course with a decently well developed understanding of animal ethics, as it is something about which I think rather often. Since I did have a decent understanding of animal ethics, there were a few topics on which I didn't really change my mind. I started the course as a vegetarian, and I am still convinced that it is morally obligatory. I am, however, much more firm in this belief. Additionally, I also gained a new understanding of veganism; I intend to become a vegan when I am no longer subject to Aramark's lousy (read: virtually non-existent) vegan options.

I also developed a new understanding of 'pet-keeping,' and while I have always considered to role of 'pet-keeping' to be more similar to guardianship, I will, in the future, refer to it as guardianship. Additionally, I have come to understand how the pet market works, such that if I do want an animal companion (which I don't think is necessarily immoral in itself), I will work with an animal shelter rather than a pet-store. I don't want to contribute to the immoral practices involved in obtaining animals for stores.

I am still a bit unsure about animal testing, but I plan to work that out soon. There are, I think, certain cases in which animal testing is entirely immoral. Cosmetic testing is immoral, but I'm not sure if AIDS research on apes - since they do not contract the HIV virus - is necessarily immoral if the apes are treated well apart from their shots.