Crítica à tradição moral: sobre a fundamentação ética na defesa dos animais não humanos

Abstract

This dissertation consists of searching for the cornerstones and principles in Peter Singer and Tom Regan s Moral Philosophy in order to critically approach the problem of exploitation of non-human animals by human beings in the forms of entertainment, clothing, scientific experimentation and, chiefly, as food. The concentration of the largest part of this analysis on this type of exploitation is due to its large scale practice and also to the possibility of extending the presuppositions that permeate the analysis of the food context to the other spheres of utilization of animals. Animals never were the target of philosophical reflection before the 20th Century, but from then on the theme went on to be considered under the perspective of corroboration of these creatures bearing intrinsic moral value, which means the expansion of the moral circle. Bearing this in mind, the philosophers Peter Singer and Tom Regan brought forth their argumentation, aiming at extending to non-human animals the ethical protection and the rights granted to humans, by focusing on the principle of coherence and by claiming it, since granting moral status to one species and denying it to other similar beings, even though they belong to distinct species, is to incur in incoherence. In a general way, this paper weaves a criticism of the ancient moral tradition that is reluctant to consider other beings, apart from human beings, as participants of the moral community. The utilization of animals is deeply rooted in western culture, constituting of habits and customs which, even before the alternatives confirmed by sciences, have kept practices that cause physical and mental suffering to non-human animals. It is believed that the first step to abolish the tyrannical exploitation of human animals over the non-human animals consists of the exposure of the subject, by setting its fundamentals in a rigorous, clear and consistent way, that is, by philosophically demonstrating it. It is expected, with this paper, a better elucidation of the legitimacy of the animal cause as well as a reflection over the impacts that the speciesism practiced by humans in relation to non-human animals may cause on the reality of other beings and on the planet Earth itself.