Animal Ethics

Peter Singer is a utilitarian thinker. He wrote the book Animal Liberation in 1975. His main point is simple. Any being that can suffer has an interest in not suffering. That interest must count.

What is speciesism?

Speciesism means putting your own species first without a good reason. Singer compared it to racism and sexism. In each case, a group is ranked lower for a trait that does not matter morally.

Where did the idea start?

The thinker Jeremy Bentham asked the key question long before. He said the test is not “Can they reason?” or “Can they talk?” It is “Can they suffer?”

What is the memory hook?

Singer: suffering counts, whatever the species.

Tom Regan took a different route. He said some animals are “subjects of a life.” Such an animal has wants and beliefs. It remembers, expects and feels. Its own life can go well or badly for it.

Why does that matter?

Regan said such a being has inherent value. This value is not earned. It does not depend on being useful to others. For Regan, this value gives the animal rights.

Is a right just another interest?

No. A right is not simply one interest to weigh against others. That is the key difference from Singer.

What is the memory hook?

Regan: a subject of a life has rights.

Both thinkers reject a human-only view. But they build on different ground.

• Singer counts every interest and weighs them against each other.
• Regan starts from rights that cannot simply be traded away.

What follows from Singer’s view?

An action is fine if it satisfies more interests than it frustrates. So a large enough benefit could justify using animals. Regan’s rights view was built to block this result.

What follows from Regan’s view?

Regan held that using animals as mere means is wrong. That makes his position stricter than Singer’s.

What is the memory hook?

Singer weighs interests; Regan protects rights.

India has a constitutional duty and a law. Both protect animals.

What does Article 51A(g) say?

Article 51A(g) is a Fundamental Duty. It tells every citizen to have compassion for living creatures. Courts read the 1960 Act together with it.

What does the 1960 Act say?

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, is the main law. Its Section 3 puts a duty on anyone who has charge of an animal. That person must take reasonable steps to ensure the animal’s well-being. Other sections ban specific acts of cruelty.

What is the memory hook?

Article 51A(g): compassion; PCA Act: care and no cruelty.

The case is Animal Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja. The Supreme Court decided it on 7 May 2014. Two judges heard it. They were K.S. Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose.

What was the issue?

Two bull sports were challenged. They were Jallikattu and the bullock-cart race. Jallikattu is a bull-taming event of Tamil Nadu.

What did the court hold?

The court held both sports broke Sections 3 and 11(1)(a) and (m) of the 1960 Act. It read these sections with Article 51A(g) and Article 21. It also held that bulls cannot be used as performing animals.

How did Indian tradition figure?

The court quoted the Isha Upanishad. The line says no creature is superior to any other. The court called this the culture and tradition of the country.

What is the memory hook?

Nagaraja 2014: Jallikattu banned under the 1960 Act.