Summer Blog Post #4

Wearing someone else's skin

http://www.animalequality.net/clothing

In this blog post my real life situation is related to an article that show how many animals are killed to produce leather or other materials for the creation of clothes. At one point, the main point that is discussed in the article is the fact that nowadays, many of these materials are  not even needed or not even in demand. Besides secondary effects of this industry have produced a multitude of illnesses related to the selective breading, which has caused overheating and fly strike. The main question that has to be investigated in this post is, id this ethical? do animals have ethics?

The main principle of ethics is address questions of morality, such us what makes our actions right or wrong. On the other hand, animal ethics focuses on the constant evolving way in which society think of non human animals. Animal ethics interacts with society on a daily basis since they're used for many purposes, food, clothing, entertainment, and companionship.

Looking at our animal ethics in our daily lives, we can find that it is pretty inconsistent, since on the one hand, we consider our pets as parts of our family, that we take care of, and respect, while on the other hand, we do not seem to care much about the billions of animals that are used for experimenting, cruelly used for entertaining purposes, and finally clothing. It is our consumer choices, and interests what make us differ an animal as part of the family, or as a clothing. This indifference that we keep between us and them, and the way that are treated, allows the industries to continue this unnecessary use of some animals. But the question here is, can this inequality in how we regard other animals be justified?

The two animal ethics that have been dividing people for centuries are two. Welfarism, and Abolitionism

Welfarism modifies systems of abuse through changes in legislation and working practices, without minding exploitation if nonhuman animals. On the other hand Abolitionism rejects the com-modification of products, allowing nonhuman animals a right to live in freedom from exploitation.