Alicia Bednar

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Delon, Nicolas

Area of Concentration

Philosophy

Abstract

Why do we classify some animals as disgusting pests and some as beloved pets? Although many people do not enjoy recognizing it, there are many obvious inconsistencies concerning the way in which we perceive, categorize, and consequently treat animals based on our relationships with them. The same animal might be classified as both a potential pest or pet, depending on the environment and context it is placed in, such as rats and snakes. Others may fall into categories that make them lab subjects or food. The categories we place animals in are automatically mentally associated with varying degrees of moral obligation to said animal, as well as our justifications for doing so. I explain the psychological research that causes this mental process to occur in order to support the argument that this should not be the only determining factor in our moral consideration of an animal. I show that the psychological factors that influence our categorization and subsequent treatment of animals are socially constructed and are much more flexible than we may believe using the example of urban animals as a case study. The goal of this thesis is to draw from existing psychological research in order to better understand and find a solution for the huge contradiction in human behavior in which we claim to love animals while simultaneously killing them for food, using them as test subjects, and terminating them for trespassing. This analysis has the potential to serve as evidence in the attempt to give certain species a higher standing in the moral community on the grounds of the consideration of the human-animal relationship as it interacts with a concept of basic moral rights.

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