kant e os direitos animais

7/26/2019 Kant e Os Direitos Animais

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The 18th Century philosopher Immanuel Kantis one of historys

true titans. His philosophy on animals represented marked

progress from Descartes theory that they were mere automata

or thingsincapa!le of realpain and su"ering. Kant

acknowledged animal pain !ut still !elie#ed that they are notself-conscious and are there merely as a means to an

end. That end is man. Our duties towards animals are

merely indirect duties towards humanity.

Thus we should stri#e to treat animals well !ut not !ecause we

owe them any direct moral duty. In refraining from animal

cruelty $Kant argued that #i#isection and !utchery are %usti&ed

while sport is wanton' we culti#ate good !eha#ior towards our

fellow human !eings( If he is not to stie his human

feeling, he must practice kindness towards animals, for

he who is cruel to animals ecomes hard also in his

dealing with men. !e can "udge the heart of a man y his

treatment of animals.)nimals lacking the a!ility to %udge

cannot !e moral agents* hence they are not part of the moral

community.

Kants philosophy almost entirely informs our contemporary

analysis of serial killers( #ogarth depicts this in his

engra$ings. #e shows how cruelty grows and de$elops.

#e shows the child%s cruelty to animals, pinch the tail of

a dog or a cat& he then depicts the grown man in his cart

running o$er a child& and lastly, the culmination of

cruelty in murder.+e should !eware of the child who

tortures neigh!orhood pets !ecause one day he

may graduateto people. ,ut what if data re#ealed otherwise-

+hat if animal a!users stopped at animals- +ould this outletoraggressionrelease then !e accepta!le perhaps e#en a good for

humanity- The end $less #iolence towards humans' would %ustify

the means $cruelty to morallyirrele#ant !eings'. In that case a

Kantian world#iew would requireus to accept a child nailing a

cat to a tree for that act would presuma!ly pre#ent some future

human molestation. Distasteful e#en repulsi#e !ut since

animals must e regarded as man%s

instruments,%usti&a!le nonetheless.
http://www.examiner.com/topic/immanuel-kant/articleshttp://www.examiner.com/topic/serial-killershttp://www.examiner.com/topic/serial-killershttp://www.examiner.com/topic/immanuel-kant/articles


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In fairness to Kant he li#ed in a Christian world almost entirely

de#oid of knowledge on the animal mind. /nlike Descartes

howe#er there are hints of am!i#alence in Kants words( The

more we come in contact with animals and oser$e their

eha$ior, the more we lo$e them, for we see how great istheir care for their young. It is then di'cult for us to e

cruel in thought e$en to a wolf.,ecause as Kant

says animal nature has analogies to human nature,we

should not shoot a dog who is no longer useful $instead

he deser$es rewardand should !e kept until he dies

naturally'. 0till for Kant only rational !eings $which animals are

not' can !e ends. This howe#er presents a large pro!lem for

Kantians.

If rationality is to !e the criterion for direct moral o!ligations

then what to do a!out humans who lack this capacity $the

philosopher Christina Ho" writes It is implausile that our

duty to feed a hungry retarded child would turn out to e

indirect and, in this respect, essentially distinct from our

duty to feed a normal child.'- If we are unprepared to make

certain disad#antaged humans means to our ends $which we

are and rightly so' then we must fore#er dismiss intelligencerelated criteria for moral rele#ance. ,enthams uote !ears

repeating( !hat else is it that should trace the

insuperale line( Is it the faculty of reason, or, perhaps,

the faculty of discourse( )ut a full-grown horse or dog is

eyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more

con$ersale animal, than an infant of a day, or a week, or

e$en a month, old. )ut suppose the case were otherwise,

what would it a$ail( the *uestion is not, +an

they reason( nor, +an thy talk( ut, +an they sufer(

+ere Kant here today he might champion animal rights.

2thological studies demonstrating animal intelligence $e#en self

awareness' would ha#e astounded him. )lso the uses that he

considered necessary $food research' are now no longer so. It is

not di3cult to imagine him espousing direct duties to animals. I

su!mit that we intuiti#ely feel that causing an animal to su"er is

wrong on its own merits* that is it matters not how the cruelty

will a"ect future !eha#ior towards other people. )nd I !elie#e


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Immanuel Kant $perhaps e#en 4ene Descartes' would see this as

a reasona!le argument.

kant e os direitos animais

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