Weak ethics, strong feelings
pp. 143-149
in: Jozef Keulartz, Michiel Korthals, Maartje Schermer, Tsjalling Swierstra (eds), Pragmatist ethics for a technological culture, Berlin, Springer, 2002Abstract
Lunacies like these are typical for what Korthals describes as the practice of companion animals. And no reasonable person would expect to impose such an exorbitant intimacy with animals on other practices of human-animal relations, like farming or experimental animal research. We don't have at our disposal a strong animal ethics, applicable to all practices and generally accepted; and it would be rather unpragmatic to develop and enforce one. But strong feelings towards animals we have - positive or negative. Such feelings, I would argue, should not be passed over too quickly as mere sentiments or unarticulated intuitions. On the contrary, they are a cornerstone of (not only moral) deliberations and learning processes concerning human-animal relations. Weak ethics but strong feelings.