Agna Guden
PHIL 2300
May 7, 2014
Moral Extensionism
Moral extensionism is known as the expansion of the philosophical moral circle beyond
the human species and to different species and land that carry intrinsic value in its own. The
question is usually why or what deserves moral value. Is something only valuable once a human
will associate value to it? Some philosophers argue that unless morality can be perceived and
understood then other species and objects do not need to be included into the moral circle. This
idea is one of the ideas of humanism. Rene Descartes is a well-known philosopher who
elaborated on his philosophy on humanism and to why morality should only apply to humans.
Rene Descartes also has made some theories onto the importance of the human pineal gland and
its function. When comparing these two philosophies together, it is clear that the ideas are
somewhat conflicting and may actually lead to expanding the moral circle to the inclusion of
animal species.
Rene Descartes is a great philosopher of the late 1500’s to early 1600’s who has been
dubbed as the “Father of Modern Philosophy.” The brilliance of this philosopher is undeniable
for the impact he had made in philosophy, science, and math during his lifetime. Descartes
proposed the idea of mind/body dualism. This is where the mind is the subject and the body is
the object since it lacks consciousness. This leads into his theory about animals being machines.
In his eyes, an animal is an object because it is part of the physical world and therefor lacks
consciousness. An animal is just a biological machine. This idea refrains from the inclusion of
any species besides humans into the moral circle.
This leads me to his second philosophy about human anatomy. Rene Descartes has
expanded some ideas about a certain organ located in the brain and its link to consciousness.
This organ is called the pineal gland. The pineal gland is a small acorn shaped gland that is
attached to the third ventricle in the brain. It is produces a hormone called melatonin which
communicates to the rest of the body about physical lighting.(1) It is commonly referenced to as
the “the third eye.” Rene Descartes took interest into this organ and theorized about the
biological and spiritual functions that it holds.
Descartes perceived the pineal gland to be the seat of a person’s soul and the place where
all of a person’s thoughts are formed. (3) He felt that in this gland, all generation of thought and
emotion arises. The most extensive analysis of Descartes’ view of the pineal gland is expressed
in his book The Passions of the Soul. Here, he expresses how he things the physical body has no
contribution to thoughts and it only can arise from within the soul. Rene Descartes views the
body of a man to be a machine but the mind is not. This is similar to his view about animals
being machines but humans differ because of their consciousness and ability for extensive
thoughts.
This is the point where Descartes theories seem to contradict. The fact that humans
deserve moral rights beyond animals because of consciousness seems to neglect the fact that
animals also have consciousness beyond their biological urges. The theories that Descartes has
developed on the pineal gland state that this organ is the seat of the soul. This is the primary
source of all thoughts and emotions. The interesting fact is that all vertebrates have pineal glands
also. Realizing this fact, it seems important to correlate animals to having consciousness and
thoughts beyond just biological needs and urges for survival.
Rene Descartes expands his argument on why animals do not deserve morality in his
excerpt “Animals are Machines.” Here he states that the two main reasons that they remain
outside the moral circle is because they cannot speak or arrange signs like humans do and that
they do not act from knowledge but only the disposition of their organs.(2) He feels that speech
is a great determining factor of one’s intelligence. Descartes believed that animals do not think
beyond the control of their organs. In his excerpt he states, “ I see no argument for animals
having thoughts except the fact that since they have eyes, ears, tongues, and other sense-organs
like ours.” (2)
A recent event in history involving gorillas and learning sign language proves against
Descartes theory that animals cannot develop thoughts beyond natural needs. Koko is a gorilla
whose owner has managed to teach her sign language at a young age. Koko expresses a variety
of emotions and feelings along with various thoughts and ideas that she comes across. She has
managed to show productivity by using her sign language to communicate her wants. She has
shown conventiality by the creation of her own words and even compound words to better
express something that has not been taught in her vocabulary yet. Koko was also able to show
her capability of displacement by associating a child to a former pregnant woman. These
characteristics of Koko the gorilla are all very complex mental processes that greatly prove that
animals can think beyond just the physicality of their bodies and their biological functions.
The fact of not wanting to include animals into the moral circle seems to be somewhat
ignorant. As the philosopher Peter Singer describes it, this is clear speciesism. Speciesism is
known as the assumption of human superiority leading to the exploitation of animals. Humanity
does not lose anything when including more species to their idea of the moral circle besides an
outdated way of humanistic thinking. A change of mentality can hopefully reverse the death of
Mother Nature. A humanistic perception and overall loss of personal connection to the natural
world has greatly deteriorated. It should be in best interest to create a reversal in this speciesist
way of thinking for the sake of animal and land preservation. The first would be the
establishment of expanding the moral circle to other species besides humans and eventually to
the land on which we have lived on for thousands of years.
Rene Descartes has developed many theories that greatly became revelations during his
time period. The only limiting theory to any positive expansion is clearly the one about
humanism. The theories about the pineal gland and its importance to consciousness can easily be
applied to animals also. Giving animals credit to having their own complex consciousness should
be reason enough to allowing them to have inclusion into the moral circle. To refrain from such
ideas is proof of a humanistic way of thinking which shows ignorance and being a speciesist.
The only way we can save the natural world is to deter away from idea of human superiority and
perceive the human race as an equal part to the natural world and its intricate system.
Works Cited
1.)Bowen, R.. "The Pineal Gland and Melatonin." . Colorado State University , 17 Mar. 2003.
Web.
6
May
2014.
<http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/otherendo/pineal.html>.
2.)Descartes, Rene . "Animals are Machines." Philosophical Works of Descartes. London:
Cambridge University , . . Print.
3).Zalta, Edward N., Uri Nodelman, and Colin Allen. "Descartes and the Pineal Gland." .
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1 Jan. 0201. Web. 7 May 2014.
<https://leibniz.stanford.edu/friends/preview/pineal-gland/>.