From just using animals to a justification of animal use: the intrinsic value of animals as a confusing start

F.L.B. Meijboom

From just using animals to a justification of animal use: the intrinsic value of animals as a confusing start

In: Climate change and sustainable development

Author:

F.L.B. Meijboom

F.L.B. Meijboom Utrecht University, Ethics Institute, Janskerkhof 13a, 3512 BL Utrecht, the Netherlands f.l.b.meijboom@uu.nl

Search for other papers by F.L.B. Meijboom in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 447–449

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086867530_0070

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Recently the Council for Animal Affairs issued a report, entitled the ‘Agenda for Future Animal Policy’. One of the topics in this report is the emphasis on the need for the government to come to a more explicit and transparent justification for animal use. It is claimed that arguments that refer to tradition or existing practices of animal use are, or at least will be no longer a sufficient justification for the use of animals for a number of goals including, company, sports, science, and food. This need was recognized by the government and resulted in a project of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture, and Innovation on the ethical justification of keeping animal (2011). One of the elements of this project was a series of focus group discussions with stakeholders on the moral values that underlie their practices of keeping animals. A second part of this project is an analysis of the problem of moral justification of keeping animal. This paper is the result of and presents some parts of this project. I start with a discussion of the question of why justification is needed. At this point the answer can both start from respect for public opinions and from specific views on the moral status of animals. In the latter case there are regular references to the intrinsic value of the animal. A notion that is even included in the law. The problem is that this concept is not used in a clear and univocal way. This is problematic, because a reference to intrinsic value may include different points of view on the moral position of animals and the acceptability of keeping animals. In this short paper, I try to distinguish three different views on the moral value of animals and the related view on the justification on animal use. And I propose to reserve only one interpretation to the reference of intrinsic value, i.e. the view that animals, based on some (higher) cognitive capacities, are worth of due respect as individuals and thus should be considered as end in themselves and not merely as means to human goals. This does not disqualify the other views. On the contrary, by using a more strict definition of the intrinsic value view, I think it is possible to understand and value the other moral position better.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789086867530/BP000070.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Climate change and sustainable development

Ethical perspectives on land use and food production

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086867530

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 15 Nov 2012

Subjects
- Life Sciences

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	56	20	4
Full Text Views	1	0	0
PDF Views & Downloads	0	0	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

From just using animals to a justification of animal use: the intrinsic value of animals as a confusing start

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

Climate change and sustainable development

Ethical perspectives on land use and food production

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics