Finding God in the Singing River by Mark I. Wallace

Author:Mark I. Wallace [Wallace, Mark I.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2007-05-10T12:31:00+00:00

I now turn to the basis of equality, the features of human beings in virtue of which they are to be treated in accordance with the principle of justice. Our conduct toward animals is not regulated by these principles, or so it is generally believed. On what grounds then do we distinguish between mankind and other living things and regard the constraints of justice as holding only in our relations to human per sons? ... Here the meaning of equality is specified by the principles of justice which require that equal basic rights be assigned to all persons. Presumably this excludes animals; they have some protection certainly but their status is not that of human beings.'

For Rawls, the devaluation of plants' and animals' interests follows from the fact that these life-forms, in principle, cannot be members of a social order in which resources are equitably distributed through rational, moral procedures. As is the case with Kant, animals and other nonhuman beings, while possessing some degree of value in Rawls's thought, are finally excluded from the sphere of justice and equal rights because they are devoid of human reason.

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