Why is it wrong to use animals?

Many animals have the same characteristics as most humans when it comes to the assignment of rights. Humans are not given special privileges because we are human, it is because we have the ability to experience pain and suffering. If humans were not able to undergo the experiences of suffering and pain we wouldn’t give such consideration as to whether our actions caused physical or emotional distress. Furthermore, we would no longer be considered sentient life forms as we could not feel pain or experience suffering, be it psychological or physiological.

Our lives then could be used for a variety of purposes we now find abhorrent. We could be used as extremely low cost labor, or even be paid nothing, we could be tortured or beaten when we do not perform adequately, given medial and demeaning tasks, used as research, killed for organs, used for product testing, raised for food and otherwise have everything natural denied to us. If we feel no pain, experience no suffering, these things would not matter to us. We are still human, but to what extent does that avail? Humanity without sentience demands nothing from our current ethical framework. Sentience is the provider of rights.

All of the situations provided in the preceding example were situations that used our lives as a means to an end. None of us would desire this treatment for ourselves and rightly so. To be used as a means to an end denies our interest in not suffering (sentience) and subverts our life for the interest of others.

The fact must come to bear then that, like humans, most animals are sentient beings as well. They are capable of experiencing pain and suffering and are conscious of the fact that this pain and suffering is occurring to them (i.e. self-aware). Furthermore, animals avoid instances where experience has proven a situation or experience to be painful.

Because it is wrong for us to be used in the aforementioned ways, it is also wrong to use other animals in many of the same ways; tortured and beaten, made to perform demeaning tasks, used as research, killed for organs, used for product testing, raised for food and otherwise have everything natural denied to them.

Because humans are sentient it is easy to see why other animals also sentient should be free from having their lives used as a means to an end. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham said as much when he wrote, “The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? [nor Are they human?] but Can they suffer?"

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