THE BIOLOGICAL VIEW

 'It disturbs me no more to find men base, unjust, or selfish than to see apes mischievous, wolves savage, or the vulture ravenous'. (Jean-Paul Satre)

There is, however, a different view of animals than the emotional one. This view places animals and human beings in the context of the Theory of Evolution. They are seen as part of an overall hierarchy that represents stages of evolution from the chemicals that were present in the early days of our planet, to us human beings as the latest stage in this process. Animals lie at various levels of this hierarchy according when they evolved.

With this theoretical background, the treatment and supposed rights of animals can be judged in terms of their position in the evolutionary hierarchy. For example, a chimpanzee is higher up in the hierarchy and closer to human beings than an oyster. It can therefore be considered to be more shocking to kill and eat a chimpanzee, than to swallow a live oyster. Yet also, this hierarchical view could be used to argue that a human being who destroys the life of a rain forrest in order to turn it into farm land for food, is acting just as naturally as a leopard destroying the life of deer for its food. Or again, a bird building a nest is no different from a human being building a concrete tower block on a green field. But there are other views . . .

Then

← this

same as

that?→

 and is

← this

same as

that?→