Is a dolphin a person? Most people would automatically dismiss the question, but in reality, this question can be discussed on a very complex level revealing that the definition of a person is not so black and white. Mary Midgley sets the stage to her narrative by telling the story of a specific court case that she uses as a reference on many occasions. In May of 1977, two men set free two dolphins who were used by the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine Biology for experimentation. Kenneth Le Vasseur, one of the men who was standing trial, told how these dolphins were suffering through unfair conditions such as diminishing food rations, isolation from other dolphins, and loss of toys. Based on this information, Le Vasseur and his counsel tried to use the “choice of evils defense” which states that an act, which would typically be considered unacceptable, would be allowed if it would lead to an avoidance of a greater evil or crime against “another”. This defense was rejected on the grounds that the judge declared that a dolphin was not considered to be “another” and instead it should be considered property. Today in our society, it is a common perception that a person or “another” indicates that you must be a human being. Midgley investigates this perception as well as the question of how do we classify what is and what is not a person as well as the moral implications that comes with the title.
It is easy to see how the defining of what a person is can be a tedious endeavor. As stated earlier, it is a common perception that in order to be a person one must be a human being. Midgley states, “It is my main business here to point out that this attitude is to crude” (Stephens ed. 316). Midgley brings up that man...
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...idgley closes by saying, “It surely cannot be dismissed merely by entrenching the law around the definition of the word ‘person’. We need new thinking, new concepts, and new words, and we are not less capable of providing these than the people were in the 1850s” (320). I view this quote as her way of saying that this standard must be changed and we should be way more capable today to reestablish a correct boundary that protects all groups. This topic is still debated today and I feel as though there will never be a clear cut answer to this question. However, I believe that Midgley has brought up new topics that will challenge common perceptions and ideas that will force others to truly think about the topic and open their minds to new ideas.
Works Cited
Stephens, William O., ed. The Person. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2006. Print.
The most effective piece of this documentary, however, was neither the structure of the film nor the specific questions that one is forced to answer regarding the ethical treatment of these killer whales, but the overall questions of whether or not these corporations should be allowed to continue their cycle of abuse toward the animals and whether or not we, as patrons, should encourage their behavior by giving them a monetary profit every day, every month, and every year. Ignorance is forgivable, but with the knowledge given in this documentary: the final two questions raised should be able to answer themselves.
An orca, more commonly known as a killer whale, is currently one of the largest marine animals held in captivity. Countless arguments are being made, supporting and opposing captivity of orcas to be exploited as circus animals in theme parks around the world. Throughout recent history, Sea World trainers have been injured and killed by the orcas and the whales, and the whales themselves have been observed as severely depressed. If Sea World releases the whales, they would undergo an immense economic downfall and the whales would be too weak to survive in the wild if they were freed. Since the first Sea World park opened in San Diego, California in 1964, common questions have arose concerning the well-being of orcas in captivity, the dangers of humans training them, the physical capability of whales theoretically being released, and the psychological differences between whales living in the wild versus whales living in Sea World's confinement.
"Is a person, One who can consciously perform personal acts? If so, people who are asleep are not people and we may kill them. One with a present capacity to perform personal acts? If so, that would include sleepers but not those in a coma. One with a history of performing personal acts? That would mean that a 17-year old who was born in a coma 17 years ago and is just now coming out of it is not a person. Also, by this definition, there can be no first personal act, no personal acts without a history of past personal acts. One with a future capacity for performing personal acts? That would mean that dying persons are not
“A human being’s sense of self is established in the context of their ethics and morals. The concept of identity is related to ‘who I am’. Individuals situate themselves in a contextual environment that may include their relationships with family and friends, and their abilities and the occupations in which they are, or have been. This identifies what is ultimately important to an individual and how that relates to where their identity is in relation to this.” (Thomas, 2013)
With forty-three dead (Bekoff, 2013) and countless others living in torment, it’s a wonder that humans haven’t decided to free the orca whales that are held captive in amusement parks all over the world. Marine biologists, psychologists, and other specialists in the field are beginning to recognize a kind of psychosis (Bekoff, 2013) that sets in on the jailed cetaceans. With symptoms that mimic those of humans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Bradshaw, 2010), there is no denying that these underwater inmates are sick. But instead of setting the innocent free, the people in positions of power, the ones who really have the ability to make a change in public opinion about cetaceans in captivity, are choosing profit over “vitality” (Clark, 2014). But not all cetaceans live lives of torment and torture. Cetaceans in the wild seem to combine intelligence and emotion, creating familial structures that endure over hundreds of years. Possibly more interesting than the psychological theory behind aggression in captive orca whales is theory behind healthy, wild orcas. The massive mammals, when living in the wild, exhibit behavior which proves their nickname as killers to be totally false. Cetaceans process and feel at a level close to that of humans.
To ascribe an entity with moral status ― whether an adult human, infant, foetus, or non-human animal ― is to declare that its treatment by other moral agents is mo...
There are many important media sources that need to be analyzed, in regard to this debate. The first source that I chose to analyze is the documentary Blackfish. In order to gather an idea of the public representation of Seaworld, I also chose to consider tweets posted by SeaWorld on Twitter. In addition to these tweets, I’ve chosen to review various articles that were published on Seaword’s website. Finally, an article published by the Humane Society offers a counter narrative to the statements by Seaworld. These four sources are a good variety for my paper because they contain many contrasting point of views. These views include two in favor of marine life in captivity and two opposed to marine life in captivity. I have chosen to analyze
The latest animal rights issue to hit the public is a whale of a controversy. For decades, the public has enjoyed visiting SeaWorld and taking in mesmerizing displays of aquatic performance by orcas, the largest species of dolphins, and their trainers. Recent events have stirred up a media uproar over the safety of these creatures and their trainers. Much of what the public knows about the maltreatment of these creatures comes from a documentary released in 2013 called “Blackfish”. The breeding and captivity of killer whales for entertainment purposes poses a threat not only to the whales, but also the trainers who interact with them.
In a notable defense of this position, philosopher Mary Anne Warren has proposed the following criteria for "person-hood": 1) consciousness (of objects and events external and or internal to the being), and in particular the capacity to feel pain. 2) reasoning (the developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems) 3) self-motivated activity (activity which is relatively independent of either genetic or direct external control) 4) the capacity to communicate, by whatever means, messages of an indefinite variety of possible contents, but on indefinitely many possible topics. 5) the presence of self-concepts, and self-awareness, either individual or social, or both. (Taking Sides -Volume 3).
Armstrong, Susan Jean, and Richard George Botzler. The Animal Ethics Reader. London ;New York, NY: Routledge, 2008. Print.
Williams, Joy. “Do Creatures Have The Same Rights That We Do?” Harper’s Magazine. 1997. 6 May 2002.
One example of personhood is not having individuality. People are predestined to be in groups, and in each group has gone through some experience to make them not like something. For example, the Betas are to agree that “Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don’t want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse…” (27). The predestination takes away
In order to define personhood, one must first define a human. A Human can be thought about in two different senses, a moral human sense and a genetic human sense. In a moral sense, humans can be thought of as a person who is a member of the moral community. In a genetic sense, humans are merely any physical being categorized as a being in the human species. From this one can conclude that a person is a human in the moral sense. Furthermore, characteristics of a person must be defined in order to differentiate moral beings from genetic humans.
In the United States alone, there are more than 500 dolphins and members of the dolphin family held in captivity; equally thousands have died in captivity. Today, dolphins are kept captive in amusement parks, "Swim With Dolphins" programs, casinos and sometimes even shopping malls. Many people enjoy watching them perform in shows or even interacting with them in aquatic parks, but most people lack the understanding of the trauma dolphins suffer in through being captured and transported, and the often cruel conditions in which they are kept. The process of capture and the conditions in which dolphins are kept are cruel and unnatural, and can be stopped by educating the public about the significant cost of this industry to the health and life of the dolphin species, and convincing the public to not buy tickets to the different events that captive dolphins are involved in.
Humanity is defined by one major factor: one’s understating of the self. By understanding one’s self, one can understand society and the world that surrounds themselves. There is one thing that can often distort one’s personality, one’s identity. By identifying as one thing a person can often change how they act or do certain things. This is often found to hide one’s true motives or intention, but it can also be used to hide hidden factors that aren’t as prevalent. One’s personality and identity are very closely linked, and tend to play off one another. This fact can be show in within multiple works. To name a few authors who demonstrate this fact: Clifford Geertz, Horace Miner, and Andrei Toom. Their works seek to dive deeper