We as humans have always given special consideration to certain animals, which varies
greatly according to cultural environment and the benefits we can get out of them. We use
them as food, clothing, and for scientific research. We also treat them as companions, and
we even see them as entertainment. Still, the growing contemporary movement in favor of
animal rights is advocating for equal treatment of animals and human beings, which I find
completely irrational since we are more superior to them and as Darwin’s famous quote
states it, we live in a world where ‘survival of the fittest” constitutes the mayor ground rule
in order to advance and survive. With that being said, in this paper I will argue that it is
indeed morally permissible to use animals as resources.
One of the premises that animal right defenders, such as Tom Regan, use to make their
case is that there is no difference between human beings and other animals, and nothing
makes us superior to them. If we were to uphold that statement true, then it wouldn’t be
wrong for us to follow our survival instincts and kill other animals like savages without no
remorse in order to maintain the flow of the food chain, just like they kill each other in the
wild. Nonetheless, we are far more biologically advance beings with the power of
reasoning that still have the natural necessity to eat. The reality is that we don’t engage in
bloody fights in order to obtain food, but fact that we farm animals does not make us
atrocious, but part of nature. Even though the process that an animal goes through in order
to end up on our plate may sometimes be questionable, we have to fulfill our dietary needs
in a world of exponentially increasing population that calls for ways for sufficient
sustainment, or otherwise we would starve to death. Some people may argue that we don’t
have to eat meat in order to function properly and a vegetarian diet it’s more than enough
in order to get the nutrients that we need. However, one might answer that plants are also
living creatures that, under the animal rights defenders’ standards, deserve to enjoy the
same rights advocated for animals. If this was the case and we could not kill any living
thing, we would truly have nothing to consume and ultimately fall out of the food chain
