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ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALIENSIS Uppsala Studies in Social Ethics 38 Fredrik Karlsson Weighing Animal Lives A Critical Assessment of Justification and Prioritization in Animal-Rights Theories Uppsala 2009 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Ihresalen, Thunbergs- vägen 3B, Campus Engelska Parken, Uppsala University, Friday, 25 September, 2009 at 10.15 a.m. for the degree of Doctor of Theology. The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Karlsson, F. 2009. Weighing Animal Lives: A Critical Assessment of Justification and Prioriti- zation in Animal-Rights Theories. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Uppsala Studies in Social Ethics 38. 341 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-7576-5. The project underlying this dissertation aims at analyzing three pro-animal-rights theories, evaluating the theories, and outlining an alternative theoretical account of animal rights. The analytical categories are justification and function of animal rights, the definition of the right holder, and the resolution approach to rights conflict. The categories are applied to a natural, a theocentric, and a contractarian approach to defend animal rights. The evaluation is substantiated by the assumption that rights are meant to protect less powerful beings against more powerful aggressors. The constructive segment is an investigation into what extent identified disadvan- tages of the theories can be avoided by outlining a new model for animal rights. The analyses and evaluation suggest that all three theories are at risk of contradicting the proper function of rights-based theories. Tom Regan’s naturalist account of animal rights in- cludes a logical possibility to sacrifice less capable beings for the sake of more capable beings. Andrew Linzey’s theocentric case for animal rights may sometimes mean that vulnerable human persons should be sacrificed for more powerful non-human beings. Mark Rowlands’ outlined contractarian model, further reconstructed in this work, fails to provide a way to resolve rights conflicts, making the function of rights inapplicable to conflicts. In conclusion, it is suggested that defining the right holder as a self-preservative being can be supported by, at least, the contractarian rationale. That would also conform to the proper function of rights-based theories. It is also suggested that this means that rights conflicts should be resolved by a voluntary sacrifice of the most powerful being. Practical circumstances should be created where such voluntarity is both genuine and rationally possible. Keywords: Animal rights, justification, prioritization, applied ethics, proper function, justice, rights language, vivisection, rights conflict Fredrik Karlsson, Ethics and Philosophy of Religion, Box 511, Uppsala University, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden © Fredrik Karlsson 2009 ISSN 0346-6507 ISBN 978-91-554-7576-5 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-107288 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-107288) Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, Västerås 2009. Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE- 751 20 Uppsala www.uu.se, Contents Acknowledgements.............................................................................. 9 Introduction........................................................................................ 11 The purpose and problems ............................................................ 15 Rights language ........................................................................ 16 Justification of animal rights .................................................... 17 The right holder ........................................................................ 18 Function of rights ..................................................................... 19 Rights conflicts ......................................................................... 20 Evaluative criteria ......................................................................... 23 Intersubjectivity ........................................................................ 24 Applicability ............................................................................. 27 Proper function ......................................................................... 29 Reading ......................................................................................... 32 Materials........................................................................................ 35 Previous research .......................................................................... 39 Outline........................................................................................... 41 1. Rights Language and Animals ....................................................... 43 The concepts of rights applied to the animal case......................... 45 Rights and powers .................................................................... 46 The claim-right view and the entitlement view ........................ 52 The function of rights.................................................................... 57 The good for animals................................................................ 62 Moral justification......................................................................... 65 Three kinds of moral justification ............................................ 68 The right holder............................................................................. 71 Conflicts of rights.......................................................................... 74 The bundle of right to life......................................................... 77 The complexity of rights in conflict ......................................... 79 Maximizing and non-maximizing resolution approaches......... 80 Equality and rights conflicts ..................................................... 84 Summary ....................................................................................... 85 2. Natural Animal Rights ................................................................... 87 Non-human animal consciousness ................................................ 88 A common nature for human and non-human animals............. 89 The belief–desire theory and common preference-beliefs........ 95 A natural justification of animal rights ....................................... 101 The theoretical basis for evaluating moral principles............. 103 The harm principle.................................................................. 105 The respect principle .............................................................. 107 The right to respectful treatment............................................. 109 The function of the right to respect ............................................. 111 Animal autonomy ................................................................... 111 The good for animals.............................................................. 112 Harm....................................................................................... 115 Respectful treatment ............................................................... 117 The right holder........................................................................... 118 The subject-of-a-life and inherent value................................. 119 The subject-of-a-life as a new view of animals ...................... 120 Subject-of-a-life and analogies ............................................... 121 Conflict resolution and the natural-rights approach .................... 125 The miniride principle ............................................................ 125 The worse-off principle .......................................................... 128 Special considerations ............................................................ 130 Summary ..................................................................................... 132 3. Theocentric Animal Rights .......................................................... 135 The Christian background ........................................................... 136 Theocentric Christian ethics ................................................... 136 Doctrine of creation ................................................................ 139 Christology ............................................................................. 143 To serve God is to liberate the creation .................................. 145 A theocentric justification of animal rights................................. 148 The function of theocentric animal rights ................................... 154 The right holder........................................................................... 158 The reverence for life ............................................................. 158 Animals in the moral community ........................................... 160 The role of humankind ........................................................... 161 Against sentientism................................................................. 163 Instrumental value or inherent value ...................................... 165 Conflict resolution and theocentric animal rights ....................... 168 Against equality...................................................................... 169 For generosity ......................................................................... 169 For generosity, because of equality ........................................ 171 Summary ..................................................................................... 173 4. Contractarian Animal Rights ....................................................... 176 Contractarianism and liberal thought .......................................... 176 Liberalism............................................................................... 178 Modern notions of the social contract .................................... 182 The Rawlsian notion of the social contract............................. 185 A contractarian justification of animal rights.............................. 190 Contractors and beneficiaries ................................................. 191 Intuitive equality and the social contract ................................ 192 Upsetting the status quo.......................................................... 194 The function of contractarian animal rights ................................ 198 Rational goodness for animals................................................ 201 The right holder........................................................................... 207 Sentience and the original position......................................... 209 The self-interested beneficiary ............................................... 212 Conflict resolution and contractarian animal rights .................... 213 The difference principle in the animal case ............................ 214 Summary ..................................................................................... 220 5. Hypothetical Application and Evaluation ..................................... 223 Comparisons................................................................................ 224 Justification of rights .............................................................. 226 Function of rights ................................................................... 228 The right holder ...................................................................... 230 The resolution approaches to rights conflicts ......................... 232 Hypothetical application of the theories...................................... 234 Natural rights for animals and life–life conflicts .................... 235 Theocentric rights for animals and life–life conflicts............. 242 Contractarian rights for animals and life–life conflicts .......... 247 Evaluating the theories and their functions ................................. 254 The natural-rights approach.................................................... 256 The theocentric approach........................................................ 262 The contractarian approach .................................................... 266 Summary of the evaluation ......................................................... 272 6. Animals and Persistent Rights Conflicts...................................... 274 The problem of persistent rights conflicts................................... 276 A demystification of the animal .................................................. 280 Proper function and justification ................................................. 284 The proper environment of a rights-based theory................... 287 The property of being exposed.................................................... 289 The property of self-preservation ........................................... 291 The link between self-preservation and exposure .................. 298 The inclusion of all life........................................................... 301 Identifying particular goods ........................................................ 305 Perceiving the good for animals ............................................. 305 Capabilities as goods .............................................................. 308 Capabilities and non-human beings........................................ 311 Capabilities are assessable and quantifiable ........................... 313 Capabilities are commensurable ............................................. 314 The function of rights ............................................................. 316 Resolving persistent rights conflicts ........................................... 317 The capabilities approach and animal experiments ................ 321 Defining the experimentee...................................................... 326 Summary ..................................................................................... 331 Bibliography .................................................................................... 334 Index ................................................................................................ 340 Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the supervision of Carl-Henric Grenholm and Per Sundman. Carl-Henric’s experienced and persistent assistance with the outline and the methodology, and Per’s skill for subtle distinctions and new thoughts have affected the reasoning much more than the footnotes show. They have both showed quite necessary and far-reaching patience with me. The ethics research seminar at Uppsala University has been my point of reference. I am especially indebted to Elena Namli, David Kronlid, Göran Lantz, Kerstin Andersson, and Lars Löfquist for hav- ing read and commented on various parts of the text. Helena Röck- linsberg has read and commented on the first draft of the project de- scription, but also a draft of the entire manuscript. Anders Kraal and Johannes Pulkkanen have also read and commented on parts of the manuscript. The Ethiek Instituut at Universiteit Utrecht received me as a guest researcher for six months. Part of this manuscript was discussed at the intellectually quite-colourful colloquium of practical philosophy. I am also especially indebted to Prof. Dr. Robert Heeger, Prof. Dr. Marcus Düwell, Dr. Jan Vorstenbosch, Dr. Theo Boer, and Frederike Kalde- waij who read and commented on various drafts on other occasions. Part of this work has been discussed at the interdisciplinary re- search forum of the Center of Sustainable Development in Uppsala. The center has also been helpful in developing my insights into expo- sure, important for the conclusions of this work. The Swedish Institute and the Nordic Library in Athens provided a recreational environment for the editing phase. The project has also been financially supported by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Founda- tion, the Carnegie Foundation, and the Olaus Petri Foundation. Uppsala, September 2009 Fredrik Karlsson 9

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