This document is in progress: the FL notation is used but this document has not yet been parsed and the authorships of the relations has not yet been specified. Many of the assertions and relationships between them come from Wikireason (more precise URLs given below).
non-human_animals
attribute: animal_rights;
animal_rights
specialization: legal_rights_of_non-human_animals moral_rights_of_non-human_animals;
legal_rights_of_non-human_animals
specialization: "governments should enforce animals' moral rights (if they exist)";
"governments should enforce animals' moral rights (if they exist)"
specialization of: "governments should enforce moral rights",
objection: ("governments should only be concerned with human welfare"
argument: "governments are created and supported by humans");
"governments should enforce animals' moral rights"
specialization: "governments should prevent animal cruelty";
moral_rights_of_non-human_animals
specialization: "humans should be concerned with animal welfare",
url: http://wikireason.net/wiki/Category:Animal_Rights
http://wikireason.net/wiki/Animal_rights_logic_tree
http://wikireason.net/wiki/Wikireason:Logic_tree;
"humans should be concerned with animal welfare"
specialization: "humans should avoid killing animals"
"humans should avoid inflicting pain to animals"
"the welfare of humans does not have a higher priority
than the welfare of animals",
opposition: ("humans have no obligations towards non-human animals"
specialization: "a person should treat animals in whatever way
serves his interests");
"the welfare of humans has a higher priority than the welfare of animals"
opposition: "the welfare of humans does not have a higher priority
than the welfare of animals",
specialization: "harming animals is better than harming humans"
"killing animals is better than killing humans"
"experimentation on animals is ok",
argument: "human life has more value than other animals' life",
objection: - "it is ok to make a decision for another being if she cannot consent"
- "animals cannot consent",
argument: - "it is not ok to make a decision for another being if she cannot consent"
- "animals cannot consent"
(objection: "if they could consent, animals would probably not agree
that 'the welfare of humans has a higher priority than
the welfare of animals'");
"humans should avoid inflicting pain to animals"
specialization: "experimentation on animals is not ok",
argument: "animal life has moral value";
"the killing_of_animals_by_humans should be avoided"
specialization: "humans should not kill animals"
"humans should avoid eating animals"
"experimentation on animals is not ok",
argument: - "animal life has moral value"
- "humans should not destroy life that has moral value if
this does not improve their own chances of survival"
- "humans can survive without killing animals"
- ("if it is possible to survive by a course of action, then
no further action is required to improve chances of survival"
objection: "possible survival is not guaranteed survival");
"humans should not kill animals"
argument: - "animal life has moral value"
- ("humans should never destroy any life that has moral value"
objection: - "humans should act to maximize the survival
of life with moral value"
- "under some conditions, eating an animal will
allow a human to survive"
- "human life has more value than other animals' life");
//VALUE
"animal life has moral value"
specialization: "a non-human animal life has the same value as a human life",
argument: "many animals are sentient creatures and experience suffering",
instance of: meaningless_statement
(argument: "since animals cannot behave in a moral manner, animal life cannot
have a moral value or, even it it does, this cannot be used as an
argument nor an objection to any other proposition)");
"human life has more value than other animals' life"
opposition: ("any animal life has the same value as a human life"
argument: "animals are similar to humans according to criteria
relevant for judging the value of a life (they are alive,
they can experience pain, ...)"),
instance of: meaningless_statement
(argument: ("measuring something without respect to a purpose is meaningless"
argument: - "a purpose gives criteria for measurements"
- "measuring something without a criterion (or several
criteria and a function to compare them) is meaningless")),
argument: - "animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans"
- "the ability to reason and communicate are relevant criteria to judge
the value of a life";
"the ability to reason and communicate are relevant criteria to judge the value of a life"
objection: "to judge if pain can be inflicted to an animal in order to avoid
inflicting pain to a person, the animal's ability to reason and
communicate are much less relevant than the amount of pain that
it will suffer compared to the amount of pain that the person
would otherwise suffer";
//propositions indirectly related to animal rights:
"humans can survive without killing animals"
argument: - "humans can eat plants"
- ("eating plants does not require killing animals"
objection: "cultivation of crops kills animals through trauma
(plough cutting worm) and habitat destruction");
"animals cannot communicate as well as humans"
specialization: "animals cannot communicate"
"animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans";
"animals cannot communicate"
objection: "most animals communicate with animals of the same species";
"animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans"
specialization: "animals do not reason and communicate";
"animals do not reason and communicate"
objection: "all mammals reason and communicate"
"most animals communicate with animals of the same species"
"some primates will barter goods and services";
"animals cannot reason as well as humans"
specialization: "animals cannot reason"
"animals cannot reason and communicate as well as humans";
"animals cannot reason"
specialization: "animals act on instinct alone";
"animals act on instinct alone"
objection: "decision and instinct must be defined to be debatable"
"many animals do appear to make simple decisions"
("many animals change behavior in response to experience"
example: "an adult dog is less subject to innately
programmed-instinctual-behavior than puppies");
"an adult dog is less subject to innately
programmed-instinctual-behavior than puppies"
argument: ("dogs may be observed making cognitive mistakes that seem
characteristic of non-instinctual processing"
example: "making the mistake of assuming that a house in a
subdivision which is based on the same house model
as the home just moved into is the home even though
it is several blocks away"),
("instinct is a behavioral pattern innate and general to a species,
which appears at a given developmental stage and does not
extinguish in response to experience"
example: "humans are generally born with a 'rooting reflex',
which is seen in infants as a sucking response in
response to gentle touch around the mouth; this
disappears as the individual acquires behavioral
control in succeeding months; however, in individuals
experiencing brain damage, the 'suppressed' response
will reappear and be outside control by the individual");