Deck 15: Animal Rights

Question 1

CONTRARY to Tom Regan's view,our moral common sense suggests that accidentally running over a man with our car is:

A)morally no worse than doing the same to a rabbit.
B)morally worse than doing the same to a rabbit.
C)morally equivalent to doing the same to a rabbit.
D)morally worse than doing the same to a woman.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Both Peter Singer and Jeremy Bentham hold that utilitarian calculations must take into account the pleasure and pain of all:

A)humans.
B)sentient creatures.
C)primates.
D)great apes.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The claim that merely having the DNA of the human species gives beings moral considerability has been undermined by:

A)studies of animal anatomy.
B)DNA research.
C)the logical possibility of animals existing on other planets.
D)the logical possibility of creatures who have full moral status but no DNA.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The claim that animals have no moral standing because they do not have the kind of strong family relationships exhibited by humans has been undermined by:

A)popular culture.
B)philosophy.
C)science.
D)politics.

Question 5

To say that an animal has moral status is to say that:

A)it is alive and sentient.
B)it is an object of direct moral consideration or concern.
C)it is worthy of moral concern because of its relationship to others.
D)there are no limits to the amount of suffering that can be inflicted on it.

Question 6

According to Peter Singer,if a man and a dog were both experiencing intense pain,we must assume that:

A)the man's pain should be taken more seriously than the dog's.
B)the man's pain should be taken as seriously as the dog's.
C)the man's pain should be taken less seriously than the dog's.
D)only the dog's pain should be taken into account.

Question 7

The traditional attitude toward animals is that:

A)animals have rights.
B)animals deserve the same level of consideration that we give to human infants.
C)an animal is owed moral respect as a source of food or companionship.
D)an animal is merely a resource that humans may dispose of as they see fit; an animal has instrumental value only.

Question 8

Which philosopher said "it is no wrong for man to make use of [animals],either by killing them or in any other way whatever"?

A)John Stuart Mill
B)Thomas Aquinas
C)Aristotle
D)Immanuel Kant

Question 9

Today almost no one believes,as Descartes did,that animals:

A)deserve a degree of moral respect.
B)have rights.
C)are equivalent to windup clocks, mechanisms without feelings.
D)have moral considerability.

Question 10

Tom Regan argues that:

A)humans and animals have equal value but not equal rights.
B)humans are experiencing subjects of a life; nonhuman animals (normal, fully developed mammals) are nonexperiencing subjects of a life.
C)humans and animals must be given equal consideration for comparable interests.
D)humans and animals have equal value and equal rights because they share particular mental capacities.

Question 11

Virtually everyone thinks that being cruel to animals-unnecessarily causing them pain or misery-is:

A)sometimes permissible.
B)wrong.
C)right.
D)relative to the animal's intelligence.

Question 12

According to Peter Singer,those who do not give equal moral consideration to both human and nonhuman animals are guilty of:

A)speciesism.
B)racism.
C)biophobia.
D)creature bias.

Question 13

For both Jeremy Bentham and Peter Singer,what makes a being worthy of moral concern,what requires us to include it in the moral community,is its ability to:

A)empathize.
B)think.
C)suffer.
D)communicate.

Question 14

When an animal is entitled to a kind of moral respect that cannot be overridden (or cannot be overridden easily),it is said to have:

A)animal status.
B)human rights.
C)animal considerability.
D)animal rights.

Question 15

Suppose your friend is an animal rights advocate for the same reasons that Singer is (utilitarian calculations).She thinks our system of meat production should be abolished,but by her own lights,her utilitarianism could sanction:

A)meat production that was even more cruel than the system we have now.
B)meat production in foreign countries.
C)a cruel but quick form of meat production.
D)a humane form of meat production.

Question 16

Some anthropocentric thinkers believe that cruelty to animals is bad,but only because:

A)it is dangerous.
B)it would have a bad effect on humans.
C)some humans frown on the practice.
D)the Bible explicitly speaks against it.

Question 17

Suppose you oppose animal cruelty but believe that animals should always serve the interests of humans.Your view,then,is:

A)similar to Tom Regan's.
B)similar to Peter Singer's.
C)anthropocentric.
D)egalitarian.

Question 18

Which philosopher helped engender the animal rights movement by arguing that something was very wrong with the traditional attitude toward animals and their treatment?

A)Lori Gruen
B)René Descartes
C)Peter Singer
D)Thomas Aquinas

Question 19

Suppose you believe,with Peter Singer,that we should give equal consideration for comparable interests.And suppose you also know that currently the meat industry (which uses factory farming)causes immense suffering to millions of sentient creatures to produce only moderate pleasures for humans.What,then,follows from these statements?

A)The meat industry in any form is an immoral enterprise and should be abolished.
B)The meat industry in its current form is morally acceptable.
C)The meat industry could never be morally acceptable in any way, no matter how many changes it made to industry practices.
D)The meat industry in its current form should be abolished, but if animals were treated more humanely, a new kind of meat industry might be morally permissible.

Question 20

Consider the practice of scientific experimentation on animals,in which,for example,the benefits gained from the research greatly outweigh the suffering involved.In this case,a Singer utilitarian may want to ______ the research,and a Regan animal rights advocate would want to ______ the research.

A)condone; condone
B)abolish; abolish
C)condone; abolish
D)abolish; condone

Question 21

Mary Anne Warren says that human lives have greater intrinsic value than animal lives because human lives:

A)are blessed with souls.
B)imply rights, but animals have no rights.
C)are worth more to their possessors.
D)are directed by minds.

Question 22

Every year,snake charmers in India used reptiles to make money during the Hindu snake festival.But animal welfare activists protested that the snakes were being injured during the process and later killed.In this conflict,who would be likely to side with the snake charmers?

A)Jeremy Bentham
B)Peter Singer
C)Tom Regan
D)René Descartes

Question 23

Animal rights activists waged a highly effective campaign against the practice of seal hunting,an activity that constituted the heart of Canadian Inuit culture and identity.The campaign devastated the Inuit economy and created a host of health,social,and cultural problems for them.Whose moral outlook would likely be kinder to the Inuit on this issue?

A)Peter Singer's
B)Aquinas's
C)Tom Regan's
D)a combination of Singer's and Regan's

Question 24

In Britain,thousands have protested for and against scientific animal testing,with each side trying to make its case in the streets and in the media.What plausible utilitarian arguments could scientists and others make in favor of the testing?

A)Animal testing produces greater net benefits to society than not testing. The pain suffered by test animals is more than offset by the cures and treatments that the tests help develop.
B)Animals are to be used for the benefit of humankind, so whatever suffering the test animals endure is permissible.
C)Animals and humans have equal inherent value. Because humans should not be kept in cages, experimented on, and otherwise abused, neither should animals.
D)Humans have infinite moral worth, but animals have little or none. So it is permissible to use animals in the service of humans, just as it is permissible to use a hammer to build a house.

Question 25

Suppose you believe it would be just as wrong to hurt,eat,cage,or hunt an animal as it would be to do the same to a human.What theory could you use to justify your belief?

A)an anthropocentric theory
B)Regan's rights theory
C)Singer's theory
D)the theory suggested in the book of Genesis