In 55 BC, the Roman leader Pompey staged a combat between humans and elephants. Surrounded in the arena, the animals perceived that they had no hope of escape. According to Pliny, they then “entreated ...

Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, Vol. 177, No. 7 (July 2020), pp. 1879-1899 (21 pages) In this paper, I aim to show that agency-based accounts ...

What would it take to teach a machine to make ethical decisions? Using neural network technology, a research team at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence headed by Dr. Yejin Choi recently ...

Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2004), pp. 61-76 (16 pages) According to a widely shared intuition, normal, adult humans require greater moral concern than normal, adult animals in at ...

No we are not “moral animals,” we are moral humans, and there is a difference. We are a kind of animal, specifically we are primates, and share much with other social mammals. We are a particular kind ...

Buddhist monk and author Ricard (Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and Your World) makes a strong argument for treating animals with respect and compassion. In practice, he says, ...

Does comparing the total number of human neurons vs. the total number of neurons among all domesticated animals affect the moral balance between animals and people? Oxford philosopher and Effective ...

Some readers decry keeping animals in captivity while others tout the educational benefits. To the Editor: Re “The Case Against Zoos,” by Emma Marris (Sunday Review, June 13): Ms. Marris argues that ...

When using books to teach morality tales, it may be best if the characters don’t have tails of their own (or any other animal traits). Young children are more likely to learn and apply character ...

Marc Bekoff’s article on the existence of morality in animals makes some questionable assumptions (13 July, p 34). Specifically, his claim that “empathy and feelings” underlie morality fails to take ...