The Lives Of Animals ( 1999 ) - 1060 Words

In The Lives of Animals (1999), a metafictional novella about animal right by the South African novelist J.M. Coetzee, the author posits through his character representative, Elizabeth Costello, that â€Å"animals are not believers in ecology† (Coetzee 151). We are told to believe based on the previous ruminations of Costello, who outlines early in part I â€Å"The Philosophers and the Animals† section that animals do not possess reason, and as a result, animals cannot hope to comprehend the way in which the complex ecosystems that are present in the study of ecology in any meaningful way (Coetzee 137). This claim is important to Costello in that it is the very foundation of everything else she argues within her debate, as she cites that to approach the ethics of the animal rights argument from any spectrum of our understanding of reason is to do so from a flawed point of view, as animals do not possess reason and therefore cannot be judged and evaluated under that syst em fairly, or even at all. While Costello’s claims certainly present an interesting point, they are troubling and ultimately flawed in their approach. I strongly disagree with Costello’s claim that animal are not believers in ecology because she is wholly enamoured with the idea of reason being an impossible judge of animal rights, going so far as to say that if reason is all she shares with her philosophical opponents, then she has no use for it (Coetzee 133). However, through Costello’s assumption that she can speakShow MoreRelatedAnimal Experimentation And The Medical Field Essay1367 Words   |  6 PagesAnimal experimentation has notably advanced the medical field since its beginnings nearly two thousand years ago. Modern surgeries, antibiotics, and vaccines have been discovered and put into effect to better the lives of humans worldwide and increase our life expectancy by thirty years. However, animal rights activists argue that tests are not accurate or r eliable due to angularities. Morality continues to toy with the minds of the public. Religious organizations, like the Catholic Church, approveRead MoreEnergy Flow Among Organisms of a Food Chain in the Desert Essay889 Words   |  4 PagesCorinne N Bryant May 2, 2013 University of Phoenix The lives of the organisms in the desert require a substantial amount of survival skills. The temperature in a desert biome is always very high and it does not rain very often so it is also extremely dry. 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