Animal Welfare and Peter Singer

Abstract

Concern for non-human animals has emerged as a major discourse in the field of applied ethics, mainly after the second half of the twentieth century. Human beings use animals for various purposes. We humans use them as food, as laboratory-tools and as entertainment-objects. But the question is, are our behaviors towards animals morally justified? Do we have any moral obligation directly to the animals? Do animals have moral standing in their own right?  Whether animals are resources for ourselves or their lives are valuable like us? Peter Singer responses to these questions and therewith developed the basic framework of animal liberation, better to say, animal welfare. In this article we shall review Singer's animal welfare theory.