15 quotes
Does it follow that a person is to withhold the performance of the good which may be within his power, because he does not attempt that which may seem beyond it?
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
Much as animals suffer in a natural state, much more do they seem to suffer when under the dominion of the generality of men. What suffering in the former can be supposed to equal the constant torture of a hackney-coach horse?
Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)
Axiom 8. That the importance of any action is measured by the degree of pleasure or pain that it causes or prevents.
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
Such animals as be wants, he will nourish on the dregs and refuse of his own food, and give this as a gift; while those which are useless to him are left in a state of starvation, and deprived of the shelter of the forests, cut down by man.
Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)
[E]very animal has more right to the use of its own body than others have to use it.
Lawrence W. Baker in Animal Rights and Welfare: A Documentary and Reference Guide (2015)
First, how do you prove that mankind is invested with the right of killing them, and that brutes have been created for the purpose you assert them to be? Secondly, it is to be observed that the flesh of man himself possesses the same nourishing and palatable qualities? And are we then to become cannibals for that reason?
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
[W]e should never admit of the propriety of the will or volition of one animal being the agent of another, unless we should perceive its own good to result from it, or that justice should require it.
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
Therefore, as a person cannot be in duplicates, it is plain, that the soul cannot be the product of mechanism. And every person knows that his self is only his self, and the same self at all times, without division, augmentation, or change of any kind, he knows it has an identity, and there* fore is not the effect of matter.
Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)
It is an axiom that the more pleasure and the less pain there is in the Universe, the better it is. If, then, a person suffer pain instead of pleasure, whether he be criminal or not, the pain will be increased and the pleasure decreased; and, as this disagrees with the axiom just cited, it is wrong.
Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)
Can a reflecting mind turn for a moment to any quarter without shrinking at the scenes of carnage and suffering which constitute not only the minor streams, but the grand tide of life: though mingled with many pleasures we admit; but the goods falling mostly on man, and the evils mostly on animals. Those men, however, who are above others, and still more above dumb animals in happiness, are readily led to believe that the sweets of life greatly predominate in the whole classes of animated beings, yet an impartial view seems to tell a very different tale.
Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)
Axiom 5. That we should never admit of the propriety of the will or volition of one animal being the agent of another, unless we should perceive its own good to result from it, or that justice should require it.
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
Y: Do you bear in mind, that in breeding the silkworms, we cause more to come into existence than would otherwise be the case?
Z: Though I think we are unauthorized to destroy or prevent life, life does not appear so desirable that we should perform any action for the sole purpose of producing it. Man does not possess sufficient knowledge, to do either act with design.
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
It is strange that philosophers first show how one animal supports itself by destroying another, and then enter into discussions on the apparent admirable order of things in their present state. But though this may be a necessary contrivance, and the only way in which life can be supported, it can never be a beautiful one, in our short sights, notwithstanding that something worse might be, were this not the case.
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
[C]ruelty is cruelty under whatever colouring it may appear; and whether exercised on a man or on a fly, cruelty is still cruelty. It matters not whether the victim be furnished with two legs or with four, with wings, with fins, or with arms; where there is sensation, there is subject for cruelty, and in proportion to the degree of sensation will its action operate.
Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
It seems that most animals produce many more offspring than can find food, but that their numbers are kept small by other animals who prey upon them, otherwise they would perish by famine: which of the two evils would be the greatest we do not pretend to determine, but as the former is the plan most adopted we must believe it to be the best.
Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Soul, and Future State (1852)