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'''Wild animal suffering''' (WAS) is a term used to describe the suffering of wild animals due to natural processes, although the term could also be used for “unnantural” instances of wild animal suffering, such as when wild animals suffer due to human activity.
'''Wild animal suffering''' (WAS) is a term used to describe the suffering of wild animals due to natural processes, although the term could also be used for “unnantural” instances of wild animal suffering, such as when wild animals suffer due to human activity.


The issue has recently received much focus from academics<ref>{{cite web|last=Horta|first=Oscar|title=Debunking the Idyllic View of Natural Processes: Population Dynamics and Suffering in the Wild|url=https://www.academia.edu/2290959/Debunking_the_Idyllic_View_of_Natural_Processes_Population_Dynamics_and_Suffering_in_the_Wild}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Horta|first=Oscar|title=1 DEBUNKING THE IDYLLIC VIEW OF NATURAL PROCESSES:POPULATION DYNAMICS AND SUFFERING IN THE WILD|journal=Télos|year=2010|pages=73-88|url=https://www.academia.edu/679531/The_Ethics_of_the_Ecology_of_Fear_against_the_Nonspeciesist_Paradigm_A_Shift_in_the_Aims_of_Intervention_in_Nature}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Ng|first=Yew-Kwang|title=Towards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering|journal=Biology and Philosophy|year=1995|volume=10|issue=3|pages=255-285|url=http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00852469}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=McMahan|first=Jeff|title=The Meat Eaters|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/the-meat-eaters/|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>, and is now starting to gain the interest of animal protection activists<ref>{{cite web|title=Wild-Animal Suffering|url=http://www.effectiveanimalactivism.org/wild}}</ref> .
The issue has recently received much focus from academics<ref>{{cite web|last=Horta|first=Oscar|title=Debunking the Idyllic View of Natural Processes: Population Dynamics and Suffering in the Wild|url=https://www.academia.edu/2290959/Debunking_the_Idyllic_View_of_Natural_Processes_Population_Dynamics_and_Suffering_in_the_Wild}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Horta|first=Oscar|title=The Ethics of the Ecology of Fear against the Nonspeciesist Paradigm A Shift in the Aims of Intervention in Nature|journal=Télos|year=2010|pages=73-88|url=https://www.academia.edu/679531/The_Ethics_of_the_Ecology_of_Fear_against_the_Nonspeciesist_Paradigm_A_Shift_in_the_Aims_of_Intervention_in_Nature}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Ng|first=Yew-Kwang|title=Towards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering|journal=Biology and Philosophy|year=1995|volume=10|issue=3|pages=255-285|url=http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00852469}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=McMahan|first=Jeff|title=The Meat Eaters|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/the-meat-eaters/|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>, and is now starting to gain the interest of animal protection activists<ref>{{cite web|title=Wild-Animal Suffering|url=http://www.effectiveanimalactivism.org/wild}}</ref> .


== Notable philosophers on wild animal suffering ==
== Notable philosophers on wild animal suffering ==

Revision as of 16:58, 12 December 2013

Wild animal suffering (WAS) is a term used to describe the suffering of wild animals due to natural processes, although the term could also be used for “unnantural” instances of wild animal suffering, such as when wild animals suffer due to human activity.

The issue has recently received much focus from academics[1][2][3][4], and is now starting to gain the interest of animal protection activists[5] .

Notable philosophers on wild animal suffering

John Stuart Mill

In "On Nature"[6],John Stuart Mill, a British utilitarian philosopher, argued that nature is not moral, he writes:

In sober truth, nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another, are nature's every day performances. [..] The phrases which ascribe perfection to the course of nature can only be considered as the exaggerations of poetic or devotional feeling, not intended to stand the test of a sober examination. No one, either religious or irreligious, believes that the hurtful agencies of nature, considered as a whole, promote good purposes, in any other way than by inciting human rational creatures to rise up and struggle against them.

Yew-Kwang Ng

Economist Yew-Kwang Ng published a paper in 1995 entitled "Towards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering"[7] . In his paper Ng discusses which animals may be able to suffer, how population dynamics and r-selection cause vast amounts of suffering and how the situation of wild animals may be improved.

Oscar Horta

Oscar Horta, a professor of moral philosophy, has written several papers on the subject of wild animal suffering[8]. He also often presents lectures on the subject of wild animal suffering[9].

Jeff McMahan

In 2010 The New York Times published an article by Jeff McMahan, entitled "The Meat Eaters"[10] in which he argues that phasing out predation would be a moral thing to do.

References

  1. ^ Horta, Oscar. "Debunking the Idyllic View of Natural Processes: Population Dynamics and Suffering in the Wild".
  2. ^ Horta, Oscar (2010). "The Ethics of the Ecology of Fear against the Nonspeciesist Paradigm A Shift in the Aims of Intervention in Nature". Télos: 73–88.
  3. ^ Ng, Yew-Kwang (1995). "Towards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering". Biology and Philosophy. 10 (3): 255–285.
  4. ^ McMahan, Jeff. "The Meat Eaters". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Wild-Animal Suffering".
  6. ^ Mill, John Stewart. "On Nature".
  7. ^ Ng, Yew-Kwang (1995). "Towards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering". Biology and Philosophy. Volume 10 (Issue 3). {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help)
  8. ^ "Papers by Dr. Oscar Horta".
  9. ^ "Why animal suffering is overwhelmingly prevalent in nature".
  10. ^ McMahan, Jeff. "The Meat Eaters". The New York Times.