it s called animal liberation now. is the publication of this update recognition that your call, your demand for a new relationship between humanity and all the other creatures on this planet, that that call failed? well, it failed to achieve what i had hoped it would achieve and what i believe ethically it needs to achieve, that s true. it didn t totally fail because there is now an animal rights movement which is a powerfulforce in many of the countries in the world and many people kindly credit my book as having triggered or inspired that movement. and that movement has had some achievements in some countries, i wouldn t deny that, but if we look at it globally, there are more animals in factory farms than there were ever before and there are more animals suffering from human use and misuse than there were before, so yes, i have to accept in that sense, it has failed. isn t your most fundamental principle a simple one? that is, that human beings have no moral, ethical righ
it s called animal liberation now. is the publication of this update recognition that your call, your demand for a new relationship between humanity and all the other creatures on this planet, that that call failed? well, it failed to achieve what i had hoped it would achieve and what i believe ethically it needs to achieve, that s true. it didn t totally fail because there is now an animal rights movement which is a powerful force in many of the countries in the world and many people kindly credit my book as having triggered or inspired that movement. and that movement has had some achievements in some countries, i wouldn t deny that, but if we look at it globally, there are more animals in factory farms than there were ever before and there are more animals suffering from human use and misuse than there were before, so yes, i have to accept in that sense, it has failed. isn t your most fundamental principle a simple one? that is, that human beings have no moral, ethical rig
A vegetative state and if we ve done brain imaging to show that they can never recover from that state, then, yes, i think it doesn t really harm them, they re not conscious, they re not capable of suffering. and as models, in fact, they would be more valuable because we ve done all sorts of things in curing cancer in mice, for example, but they don t translate to humans. if you could use humans who are incapable and would never recover consciousness, i do think that would be a more valuable and more ethical thing to do. well, you, as the detached rational utilitarian, might think that. what do you think the families of people who are currently in comas in hospital are going to think when they hear that the famous philosopher peter singer says, you know what? that alive human being should be taken off and experimented on for radical new drugs. well, families of people who are brain dead will allow their organs to be used to benefit others. i think they will recognise that there is
What do you think the families of people who are currently in comas in hospital are going to think when they hear that the famous philosopher peter singer says, you know what? that alive human being should be taken off and experimented on for radical new drugs. well, families of people who are brain dead will allow their organs to be used to benefit others. i think they will recognise that there is no benefit to the human in continuing to have a heart that could save the life of someone else. so, perhaps they will also feel that out of this tragedy, some good can come. you do appear to have a view of what it means to be severely disabled and often, you focus on intellectual disablement, but sometimes on physical disablement, too. you have a view which seems to say that those human beings have less value and you say that when a new human is born, if they are born with conditions, for example, down s, spina bifida, haemophilia, then the parents of that newborn should have the right t