Assignment 3: Animal Rights: Kant and Singer Read the introduction to Chapter 3 on Animal Rights. Textbook : Louis Pojman and Paul Pojman, Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application. Seventh Edition . Cengage Learning. and the 2 readings below. Textbook : Louis Pojman and Paul Pojman, Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application. Seventh Edition . Cengage Learning. Answer the questions below for each of the readings. You can write as much as you want. (A) Holly L. Wilson, The Green Kant: Kant’s Treatment of Animals (There is a selection in this chapter by Kant that you should read. But it may be too difficult, so there are no questions for it.) Kant believes that animals have no rights at all in part because they don't have reason and aren't "ends in themselves." (B) Peter Singer, A Utilitarian Defense of Animal Liberation. Peter Singer is a utilitarian (which holds that one is morally required to do what promotes the greatest good for everyone who is affected by the action, including animals. On this utilitarian ethical theory, the good is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain . So we must maximize pleasure over pain. The utilitarian approach to morality is very different from Kant's approach. (But notice that Tom Regan, another animal rights supporter, takes a Kantian view. We'll look at Regan in the next assignment.) Singer holds that animals have a right to equal moral consideration, because they feel pleasure and pain, too. Singer is NOT saying that animals should have all rights equal to humans -- like the right to a fair trial . That's obviously absurd. He is saying that animals should have a right to equal moral consideration of their pain and pleasure . In other words, their pleasure and pain should count morally, and their pain counts just as much as our pain. So we need to give their pleasure and pain equal moral consideration when we act. If you disagree with Singer’s idea about what gives animals moral status, then you should explain why it is that the pain we feel counts morally while the pain animals feel does not — or is it that you don’t think that the ability to feel pleasure and pain is what gives something moral status? _______________________________________________________________ (A) Answer the following questions on Wilson’s discussion of the important 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant. 1. As Wilson explains Kant, why does having a soul distinguish animals from things? __________________________________________________ Answer 1: __________________________________________________ 2. Kant says that animals (and plants) are also distinguishable from things because animals are “organized beings.” Organized beings are both intrinsically and extrinsically purposive. Explain these two important concepts. _________________________________________________ (i) Intrinsically purposive _________________________________________________ (ii) Extrinsically purposive ...