Why the appeal to intuitions shouldn’t lead us to accept speciesism – or other questionable moral views

13 Mar 2017

Many people today take for granted that it’s acceptable to exploit animals for human benefit. A lot of people just take for granted the attitudes towards nonhuman animals that are prevalent today. One reason used to support this is that such a view is intuitive to us. The underlying assumption is the idea that it’s correct to follow our gut reactions towards moral issues.

There are, however, strong reasons to reject this. Our intuitions are often unreliable and even in contradiction with each other. They should be critically appraised. An attitude may be initially intuitive, and we may discover, once we reflect about it, that it is not tenable.

A new article by Animal Ethics examines this issue. It assesses the reasons why discriminating against nonhuman animals can’t be considered right by means of an appeal to our moral intuitions. You can read it here:

It explores in detail the question of whether our intuitions are reliable. We hope you find it useful!