When people hear the term ‘animal rights’, it can elicit a certain reaction, which will depend on your outlook. You may think it’s absurd and meaningless to ascribe rights to non-human animals, believing rights can only be afforded to people. Animal rights may also conjure up images of those who advocate for such – perhaps…
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This is the dissertation I wrote for my Philosophy undergraduate degree in 2012. Some of the statistics may be a bit out of date, but recent developments in drug liberalisation (such as in the US) and research on the illicit drug trade – as well as the therapeutic application of certain illicit drugs – are still…
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Speciesism is discrimination on the grounds of species – or mistreating another creature because they belong to a different species than you. If a person claimed she had a right over a cow’s life just because she belonged to the species homo sapiens, then this would be an example of speciesism. The claim that a…
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This is a question which interested me when I started noticing how in many countries, multi-day hikes often rely on the use of pack animals to carry gear and supplies. This isn’t always the case, of course. For example, during my 3-day hike on Mount Rinjani, the second-highest volcano in Indonesia, superhuman porters were employed…
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The goal of end-of-life care is to offer compassionate care and the amelioration of suffering to people in the last days of their life, as well as those afflicted with a terminal condition that has become advanced, progressive, and incurable. However, if we are to be truly compassionate towards the dying – and towards many…
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