Animals and Morality
動物與道德
費昌勇教授
台灣大學獸醫學院
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What are ethics ?
何謂 “倫理學”?
• Ethics deal with what is good or bad, right or
wrong 倫理學是討論我們對於好壞、是非的價
值觀，以及我們該如何行為過日子
• Ethical theory is a branch of philosophy
倫理學是哲學的分支
• BUT ethics are a part of everyday life: 但倫理學是
每日生活的一部分：
– Our everyday actions impact on the interests of
others 我們每天的行為影響著他人的利益
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Branches of Ethics 倫理學的分支
Personal Ethics
個人倫理
Professional Ethics
職業倫理
Societal Ethics
社會倫理
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Moral justification 道德證成
• 道德證成的過程代表了一個公正的立場--其證成的理由不僅說的人自己要承認，還
要普遍的被大眾所承認。
• The practice of moral justification suggests an
impartial standpoint - its justifying reasons
must be recognised not just by the person
making them but by persons generally.
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Moral absolutism 道德之絕對主義
• Moral absolutism is an ethical view that certain
actions are absolutely right or wrong, regardless
of other circumstances such as their
consequences or the intentions behind them.
• Moral absolutism stands in contrast to other
categories of ethical theories such as
consequentialism (teleology), which holds that
the morality of an act depends on the
consequences or the context of the act.
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Deontology 義務論
• It holds the ethical position that judges the morality of
an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or
rules. It is sometimes described as "duty" or
"obligation" or "rule" -based ethics, because rules
"bind you to your duty".
• Kantian ethics: Immanuel Kant's theory of ethics is
considered deontological for several different reasons.
• First, Kant argues that to act in the morally right way,
people must act from duty (deon).
• Second, Kant argued that it was not the consequences
of actions that make them right or wrong but the
motives of the person who carries out the action.
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Moral relativism 道德之相對主義
• Moral relativism may be any of several philosophical
positions concerned with the differences in moral
judgments across different people and cultures.
• Moral relativism has been espoused (信奉), criticized,
and debated for thousands of years, from ancient
Greece and India down to the present day, in diverse
fields including philosophy, science, and religion. For
example, the Greek philosopher Protagoras (c. 481 –
420 BC) famously asserted that "man is the measure of
all things". The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 – 420
BC) observed that each society regards its own belief
system and way of doing things as better than all
others.
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Teleology / Consequentialism 結果論
• The broad spectrum of consequentialist ethics, of
which utilitarianism is likely the most well-known,
focuses on the end result or consequences, with such
maxims as utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill's
"the greatest good for the greatest number", or the
maximum utility. Hence they are teleological in nature.
• This is in contrast with deontological ethics, such as
Immanuel Kant's the Categorical Imperative, in which
an end result or consequences are less important, or
even irrelevant, but the action itself, the means or will,
is the focus.
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近代哲學家對道德之看法
• 史賓諾沙 Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) notably held that nothing is
inherently good or evil.
• 休姆 David Hume (1711–1776) distinguished between matters of
fact and matters of value, and suggested that moral judgments
consist of the latter, for they do not deal with verifiable facts
obtained in the world, but only with our sentiments and passions.
Hume famously denied that morality has any objective standard.
• 尼采 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) believed that we have to
assess the value of our values since values are relative to one's
goals and one's self. He emphasized the need to analyze our moral
values and how much impact they may have on us. The problem
with morality is that those who were considered “good” were the
powerful nobles who had more education, and considered
themselves better than anyone below their rank. Thus, what is
considered good is relative.
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Evolution of morality 道德之演化
• The evolution of morality refers to the emergence of
human moral behavior over the course of human evolution.
Morality can be defined as a system of ideas about right
and wrong conduct. In everyday life, morality is typically
associated with human behavior and not much thought is
given to the social conducts of other creatures.
• Evolutionary biology and in particular sociobiology have
argued that, though human social behaviors are complex,
the precursors of human morality can be traced to the
behaviors of many other social animals.
• Socio-biological explanations of human behavior are still
controversial. The traditional view of social scientists has
been that morality is a construct, and is thus culturally
relative.
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社會生物學 Sociobiology
• Sociobiology is based on the premise that some behaviors
(both social and individual) are partly inherited and can be
affected by natural selection. It predicts that animals will
act in ways that have proven to be evolutionarily successful
over time. This can, among other things, result in the
formation of complex social processes conducive to
evolutionary fitness.
• The discipline seeks to explain behavior as a product of
natural selection. Behavior is therefore seen as an effort to
preserve one's genes in the population. Inherent in
sociobiological reasoning is the idea that certain genes or
gene combinations that influence particular behavioral
traits can be inherited from generation to generation.
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天性道德 Instinctive morality
• The instinctive moral laws take two forms: the
universal codes, which apply to all life; and the
social codes, that are specific to gregarious
creatures.
– Universal morality governs interaction between
members of the same species.
– Social morality allows groups of same-species animals
to live and interact in close proximity to one another,
and to function as a unit: as the sum of the individuals.
• The instinctive laws are only broken by mentally,
or genetically, damaged creatures; and by man.
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正義 Justice
• According to most contemporary theories of
justice, justice is overwhelmingly important:
John Rawls claims that "Justice is the first
virtue of social institutions, as truth is of
systems of thought.”
• Justice can be thought of as distinct from and
more fundamental than benevolence, charity,
mercy, generosity, or compassion.
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天性道德實驗 Morality of instinct
• Studies at UCLA in 2008 have indicated that reactions to
fairness are "wired" into the brain and that, "Fairness is
activating the same part of the brain that responds to food in
rats... This is consistent with the notion that being treated
fairly satisfies a basic need".
• Research conducted in 2003 at Emory University, Georgia,
USA, involving Capuchin Monkeys demonstrated that other
cooperative animals also possess such a sense and that
"inequity aversion may not be uniquely human” indicating
that ideas of fairness and justice may be instinctual in nature.
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Instinctive behavior
• A relatively complex response pattern which is
usually present in one or both sexes of a given
species. These responses have a genetic basis,
are essentially unlearned, and are generally
adaptive.
• Example: wolves, human Incest is not
accepted in terms of morality.
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Moral agency
• Moral agency is an individual's ability to make moral judgments based on
some commonly held notion of right and wrong and to be held
accountable for these actions. A moral agent is "a being who is capable of
acting with reference to right and wrong.”
• Most philosophers suggest only rational beings, who can reason and form
self-interested judgments, are capable of being moral agents. Some
suggest those with limited rationality (for example, people who are mildly
mentally disabled or infants) also have some basic moral capabilities.
• Many philosophers, such as Kant, view morality as a transaction among
rational parties, i.e., among moral agents. For this reason, they would
exclude nonhuman animals from moral consideration.
• Utilitarian philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and Peter Singer have argued
the key to inclusion in the moral community is not rationality, but the real
object of moral action is the avoidance of suffering.
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Moral patient
• Traditionally, only rational human beings can be moral agents, for
they must hold responsibility for their actions. Children and braindamaged people, are not regarded as moral agents. However, they
are still protected from suffering by moral laws.
• Moral patients cannot follow moral principles and rules. They can
bring about great pain and even disasters to others, but we cannot
say that they are morally wrong for doing that. Equally, their acts
may bring about good consequences, but we do not say that they
are morally right for performing them.
• Moral agents can act wrongly or rightly in ways that affect moral
patients, but moral patients cannot act reciprocally toward moral
agents.
• Contemporary environmental ethics claims that the scope of moral
patients should not only include marginal human beings, but also
sentient animals, and even the whole biocommunity.
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Five animal ethics views
1. The Contractarian View: “Morality is based on
agreement”
2. The Utilitarian View: “Morality is about maximising
human and animal well-being”
3. The Relational View: “Morality grows out of our
relationship with animals and one another”
4. The Animal Rights View: “Good results cannot justify
evil means”
5. The Respect for Nature view: “We have a duty to
protect not just individual animals, but the species to
which they belong – and, in particular, the integrity of
each species.”
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1. The Contractarian View契約論
• “道德的基礎乃為協定”
• 動物既沒有創造道德責任也不具有道德責
任。然而，我們對動物還是有一種間接的
道德義務(extrinsic value=instrumental value)，
因為牠們與人類的生活息息相關。
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說話方式---間接利益
1. 我們應當重視動物福利，因為消費者如此
要求，而我們想將產品賣給他們。
2. 由於公眾的反對，我們應該盡己所能地去
避免使用貓、狗、猴子和其他有感覺能力
的物種來做研究。
3. 我必須善待動物到我需要達到的目標，但
我不認為值得我付出更多。
4. 為了要加強動物實驗的精緻度，我們應當
關心動物福利。
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2. The Utilitarian View 效益主義
• 「道德是人類與動物福利的最大化」
• 在面對選擇時，我們應當考慮動物福利可
能帶來的結果以及對人類的潛在利益。
• 如果所有因素都考慮到且能提升動物福利
「淨值net increase」的情況下，對動物福
利有負面衝擊的作法仍然可以被合理化。
• 假設農場的狀況對動物福利無害，並且屠
宰過程是處理的很人道的話，屠宰動物
（做為食物）可能會被證明是正當的。
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說話方式---效益結果論
1. 近代農場動物的問題，在於動物福利的負
面效果無法抵銷人類所獲得之利益。
2. 有些動物實驗是可被允許的，因為這些實
驗讓我們找到減緩疾病痛苦的治療方法。
3. 有時候，安樂死對街貓比較好，否則牠們
將痛苦的活著。對剩下來的街貓來說，這
也是比較好的，因為牠們的食物競爭將會
減少。
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3. The Relational View 關係主義
• 「道德產生於我們與動物彼此間的關係」
• 我們對動物的責任由彼此是否親近來決定。
• 我們對待動物的方式將會影響我們如何對
待人類。故，對動物不好是錯的，因為這
種行為所反映出來的道德態度可能導致一
個人對其他人不好。
• 關係理論家通常都喜歡更進一步地主張親
密的關係無論何時都應該被鼓勵，因為友
誼本來就是有價值的。
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說話方式---友誼
1. 狗是人類最好的朋友，所以對待牠們應該
要比對待農場動物和實驗動物更好。
2. 除了盡可能地有效地清除牠們之外，我們
對於諸如野鼠和家鼠等的有害動物是沒有
義務的。
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4. The Animal Rights View 動物權
• 「善的結果也不能使惡的手段合理化」
• 一個說法為動物有權利，另一種說法則闡
明牠們有哪些權利──這顯示動物權主義具
有某種程度的激烈性。
• 最激進的動物權擁護者堅持動物享有與人
類相同的權利。這個觀點顯然不包括言論
自由這項人類特有的權利，但應包括不為
人類利益而遭宰殺的權利（除了人類自我
防衛的前提下）。
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說話方式
1. 動物不是我們的奴隸。
2. 動物有與生俱來的存在價值，這個價值應
當被尊重。
3. 無論結果有多好，動物實驗仍然不能被允
許。
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5. Environmentalism 環境主義
• 「我們有義務要保護的不僅僅只是動物本身，
而是他所屬的物種，尤其是各物種的完整性。」
• 物種的滅絕並非娛樂資源的喪失，而是關係到
一個物種本身的價值，而這個價值將不復存。
• 由於保存物種本身是符合道德的，我們應當尊
重自然和它豐富的基因結構，不應該對物種進
行基因改造，因為那是一種不尊重的干涉。
• 引申的觀點是不應干涉動物的自然型態，包括
傳統上的育種。
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說話方式
•
•
•
•
應當停止繼續改造物種。
應當停止繼續育種。
應當保護瀕臨絕種的物種使牠們免於滅絕。
自然應當順其發展。
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• 勞倫斯在「人類遇到狗」
(Man Meets Dog, 1954)中寫
道：「動物在最自然的情況
下，天生的傾向和他們 “應
該”做的事是互不矛盾的，
而這是人類已失去的天堂境
界。」
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