Morality and Religion Religion & Theology Essay Research (Essay Sample)

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Moral status of animals
Do humans have anything distinct to justify the idea that they have a moral status while non-humans don’t have? The answer to this question has been so vital to both philosophers and non-philosophers who have interest in special treatment for non-humans or animals in particular. Thus, giving an answer to this philosophical question will help us understand the moral status of animals as well as the nature of human beings and their moral obligational scope (Lori, 2003). There are some arguments by some people that there is an answer to differentiate human beings from the natural world. Many who are for the latter have interests in justifying some practices done by humans to towards non-humans such as actions causing discomfort, pain, death and suffering. This group believes that answering the question in a certain way gives humans the permission to give other humans moral consideration which is not required when dealing with non-humans (Lori, 2003). However, there are arguments by some philosophers that while humans are different in various ways as well as other animals; the distinction doesn’t give a philosophical defense to deny moral status to some non-human animals (Lori, 2003). This paper aims at analyzing some different views of the moral status of animals, the potential weakness found in them and possible ways to address them.