Mary Midgley starts off the second chapter of her book, Animals and Why They Matter, with a discussion of lifeboat ethics. In Midgley's opinion, the lifeboat scenario is not accurate because we rarely, if ever, find ourselves in such drastic situations that we can do absolutely nothing to try and help ourselves and others. She does not dismiss the seriousness of the ecological problems we are facing, but she states that we are not at a point where we should be deciding to just leave other beings (namely animals) behind to suffer and die off in the name of "self-preservation." I agree with what Midgley is saying. I do not think we should give up yet and just assume that we cannot to anything to better our situation, we should keep trying to find solutions.
Midgley also talks a lot about competition in this chapter and about whether or not it is natural for us to apply this "us vs them" mentality to animals. One thing I really liked about Midgley's take on it is that she seems to have a moderate viewpoint. She says that of course kinship and closeness play a role in who (or what) we want to "save," and that is OK (unlike some thinkers who claim we should put the same value on animals as we would our own children). However, Midgley also says that sometimes the needs of animals outweigh our own, and that should be taken into account (unlike those who believe humans should always be a higher priority than animals). For example, when using the elephanticide example from the first chapter, Midgley states that the elephant's need for humane treatment should outweigh the human's desire for "pleasure" while killing it. I really like this way of thinking because it is reasonable. It is not too conservative (only value humans) and not too liberal (no distinction between humans and animals). I think this appeals to me because it emphasizes that humans are innately good. Midgley states that almost all humans would abide by this principle instinctively, which gives me hope for humanity - something that some other philosophers seem t to want to take away.
No comments:
Post a Comment