Widely Agreeable Moral Principles Support Efforts to Reduce Wild Animal Suffering
Every day, wild animals suffer and die from myriad natural causes. For those committed to non-speciesism, what wild animal suffering entails for us morally is a question of the utmost importance, and yet there remains significant disagreement at the level of normative theory. In this paper I argue t...
Subtitles: | Ethics of Zoonosis in Companion Animals |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Brill
2023
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In: |
Journal of applied animal ethics research
Year: 2023, Volume: 5, Issue: 2, Pages: 221-246 |
Further subjects: | B
Nature
B Justice B Animals B Principles B Beneficence B Autonomy B wild B Non-maleficence |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Summary: | Every day, wild animals suffer and die from myriad natural causes. For those committed to non-speciesism, what wild animal suffering entails for us morally is a question of the utmost importance, and yet there remains significant disagreement at the level of normative theory. In this paper I argue that in situations of moral urgency environmental managers and policy makers should refer to widely-agreeable moral principles for guidance. I claim that the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy and justice do well to capture our widely-held values, and that the first three principles all support large-scale interventions in nature. I then argue that balancing these against non-maleficence will still allow for the careful consideration of interventions, although is unlikely to support lethal methods. This argument is intended to provide a reasonable starting point for theory-agnostic decision makers, and places the burden of proof on those who oppose intervention. |
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ISSN: | 2588-9567 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of applied animal ethics research
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/25889567-bja10038 |