Animals are human companions, especially the ones that have been domesticated. It is for this reason that they relate to people in a special way. In some cases, humans develop master-and-slave relationship with animals, while in other instances there is an employer-worker or friend-friend relationships. There have been concerns across the world regarding how human beings treat animals. For instance, animals experience extreme pain in slaughterhouses as humans kill them in order to obtain meat or skin for daily usage. It is high time that humans come to the realization that although animals are less developed intellectually, they are still a class of beings hence people have ethical responsibilities towards them. These responsibilities entail caring for the physical wellbeing and emotional welfare of animals. According to care ethics and deontology, humans have ethical responsibilities to animals, such as acting as caregivers and expressing their commitment by ensuring their welfare, which relates to conventional ethical relations as evident from the analysis below.

Care Ethics

The responsibility of humans towards animals should be to care for them since this is the foundation of care ethics, which entails developing an objective relationship. Care ethics makes stress on anticipating and meeting the needs of others that people relate with, such as animals (Gilligan, 1982). The best way in which humans can be caregivers to animals includes ensuring that they have appropriate shelter, food, and good health. In case of domestic animals, such as cows, dogs, and donkeys it is the responsibility of humans to ensure that they have a shelter. It helps in maintaining the concept of fairness towards an individual need, which is in stage one and two of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development (Gilligan, 1982, p. 3). The animals should also be fed and cleaned in a proper way to maintain the principle of fairness that is stressed by ethics of care.

Animals may not show any form of gratitude for being cared for, but it is the role of people to find the logic of their action. Based on care ethics, the societal consensus is what drives people to do the right thing (Gilligan, 1982, p. 2). Anyone following reason will understand that animals, just like people, have emotions and feel pain, so taking care of them by ensuring their wellbeing is the right thing to do. Erikson, while explaining the principle of ethics of care in regards to logical thinking, argued that when people know the rules, they begin to think in a logical way, which drives them to find appropriate solutions to the problems that they face (Gilligan, 1982, p. 3). It means that when humans think that it is reasonable to treat animals with fairness, they will be driven by logic to act as responsible caregivers. This logical reasoning will lead people to thinking that the animals that they relate with, such as their pets, need to be fed properly, require health services, and should be protected from pain or suffering.

Ethics of care stresses the degree of interdependence between two beings. It is true that animals greatly depend on humans. Kohlberg’s stages five and six of fairness involve applying logic of reciprocity and equality (Gilligan, 1982, p.3). For instance, domesticated animals may become sick or die if not treated properly. At the same time, humans depend on these animals for food, meaning that there is a degree of interdependence between them. When it comes to wild animals, they depend on humans in several ways. It is the ethical responsibility of humans to take care of the environment where these animals live. Therefore, it is important to safeguard the interests of the wild animals and the best ways humans can achieve this is by planting trees, ensuring that the environment is clean, and taking care of the water. According to care ethics, individual choices can greatly affect the others, especially if their proportion of vulnerability is high (Gilligan, 1982). Since animals are extremely vulnerable to human actions, people should maintain their welfare. Animals greatly depend on humans for survival but the same applies to humans since some animals are their main sources of food.

Deontological Approach

Deontological ethics mainly focuses on the duties of a person towards the others. It is the duty of humans to care of animals. Every decision that people make should, therefore, be aimed at improving the lives of animals instead of destroying them. Humans should not view animals as a means to an end, rather, they should treat them as an end in themselves (Bennett, 2008, p.19). The golden rule of deontological ethics is that people should do unto others the things that they also expect should be done to them. It means that people should treat animals as they treat themselves or other human beings and this involves caring about their welfare and emotions.

The concept mainly applies to animal husbandry. In many cases, animals in this industry are treated as a means to an end. For example, people involved in the slaughter do not care about the pain that they inflict on these animals because they believe that humans have dominion over the animals, thus can cause them pain, deprive them of basic needs, such as food and water, and place them in conditions that cause suffering. The main goal of people is to obtain meat, eggs, or skin from those animals and sometimes they tend not focus on the ways in which the goals are reached as long as their needs are met. However, it means that the humans are breaking the golden rule of deontology, which states that one should not use others (animals) as a tool in order to meet or achieve specific goals.

According to deontology ethics, what matters in actions is the intentions of people and not the results. The ultimate good is only achieved if the intention is right. According to categorical imperative, when people make decisions, they should ensure that they have obeyed and fulfilled their duty (Bennett, 2008, p. 19). They should do the best that they can to ensure that the animals they depend on are treated fairly. For instance, when it comes to slaughtering of the animals, it is the ethical responsibility of humans to ensure that they inflict minimal pain on them. They can do this by using anesthesia. In such a way, people are able to meet their needs properly because they obey their duty of acting in the right way towards the animals to benefit from them (Bennett, 2008, p. 14). At the same time, in slaughterhouses, people’s responsibilities include feeding animals and taking care of them since this will help people maintain the uttermost good. Finally, the only way in which the humane society can exist is if people show respect to those who they relate with on a daily basis, including animals.

Counter Arguments

It is easy to argue that people do not have ethical responsibilities to animals because of the belief that animals are not like humans and they do not have feelings or emotions. In this case, the aspect of care ethics does not apply to them since it is not their duty to take care of animals, especially the wild ones (Bennett, 2008). It is for this reason that people hurt animals or kill them. To these people, animals are simply a means to an end and not an end in itself (Bennett, 2008, p.19). Consequently, they do not feel any respect towards the animals and there is no ethical responsibility towards them, such as caring for them or ensuring that they do not suffer. People believe that causing pain and suffering to animals is justified and they do not see such acts as inherently wrong. The main argument is that morality cannot be judged by someone performing their duty, such as rearing animals for the sole purpose of benefiting from them.

In conclusion, the ethical responsibility of humans towards animals involves acting as caregivers and expressing their commitment by ensuring their welfare, as suggested by care ethics and deontological approaches. Through this, people maintain conventional ethical relationships with animals. Following the principles of care ethics, people should take care of their animals in the right way by providing them with shelter, not inflicting pain on them, and protecting their environment to enable them to thrive. On the other hand, when it comes to deontological approach, humans act responsibly towards animals because it is their duty. It is for this reason that they do not use animals as an end to achieve their needs, but as an end in themselves. Nonetheless, as a result of inherited believes, there are those humans who view animals as a means to an end hence do not care about their welfare or hurt them.

This article was written by a professional writer - Terry Bailey - who is also engaged in such papers writing as bu supplemental essays and research projects.