Absolute and Relative Dismissal

The topic of absolutely dismissal and relative dismissal came up in Midgley's book. She said that absolute dismissal was the idea that we as humans have absolutely no moral obligation towards animals. There are some people that think they have this mentality. They think that animals mean absolutely nothing and are just machines. I think a lot of big companies thought this way before the green movement started. Many companies did not care about where they built their buildings and factories or what they were putting into the environment. Now, there are some laws that restrict where building can be built and what can and cannot be put into the air. Midgley mentions that no one really has the mentality of absolute dismissal. She says that absolute dismissal is actually relative dismissal in disguise. Relative dismissal is the mentality that humans do have a moral obligation to animals but they come second to human obligations. This means that the people that think they have absolute dismissal do not follow that mentality completely. From what I understood about relative dismissal, it can be exercised in many different levels. The most biocentric way is that animals have just as many rights as humans do but when it comes time to choose between human rights or animal rights the human rights take priority. I think this is the way the world today should strive to be since I believe it is impossible for humans to consider themselves complete equals with animals. Relative dismissal is about as close as we can get right now, but since it can be practiced in more ways than one, I think we need to be careful. Practicing relative dismissal in a way that is as close as it can be to absolute dismissal will not be good. This is basically having human do whatever they want but just feeling slightly bad for the damage to the environment and animals.