Research Proposal
Just because they don’t speak, doesn’t mean they don’t suffer
Animal rights are the idea that nonhuman animals are entitled to the possession of their own lives. They should be treated like a human and not property. As early as 1635, the first know animal protection legislation was passed in Ireland. The debates on animal rights can be traced back to ancient times and the idea of divine hierarchy. There are many different views on the topic of animal rights. For example, the abolitionist view is that animals have moral rights; the protectionists believe that there should be more laws protecting animals; sentiocentrism is the theory that any individual with the power of perception by senses deserve rights and are subject to moral concern. There are more than 15 million warm blooded animals used in researching. In the United States alone, 1.13 animals are used in testing and research every year. Also, 13% of animal abuse involves domestic violence.
This topic is worth researching and investigation because animals are no different than humans; just because they aren’t able to say anything or do anything doesn’t mean that they should have any protection against them. Many animals around the world are killed because of clothes, food, rituals, and terrible owners. This topic is relevant because some things that we do go hand in hand with animal rights and animal cruelty. For example, fur products, they way some food chains treat their animals, and products we use that have been animal tested. We might not even know that we use products that have been tested on animals, and people are fighting for the rights of those animals and we use it without even realizing it.
My main research question is, how has animal rights changed throughout the 20th and 21st centuries? My supporting research questions are, how is animal rights related to our everyday life? How would our lives be without animal experimentation? What are traditions, customs, or jobs that involve using nonhuman animals? Where do animal rights come from? What do human gain by giving rights to nonhuman animals? Would animal rights be different if people treat or slaughter animals humanely? Key terms I found are fur farms, animal liberation, sentiocentrism, deontologist, speciesism, protectionists, personhood, animal welfare, animal rights movement, veganism, blood sports, utilitarian, and sentient.
The motivation for pursuing this topic is that there are many animals in this world suffering and none of them have a voice, or no one can hear their cries. My intent is that I want to be more aware and less ignorant about what goes on with animals and their rights. Animals are treated like they have no feelings or senses, so they are treated very different than humans, but when you think closely about it nonhuman animals are very similar to humans, they smell, feel, think, and experience what we experience. I'm very curious about how animal rights are used throughout the world and if they even make a difference to animals that are being oppressed. My relation to this topic is that three years ago I became a vegetarian and last year I did my research topic on animal experimentation, so I want to go to the legal side of this issue rather than just the gruesome side of this topic. Also, I have a lot of respect to animals and I do not treat them inhumanely, that is why I became a vegetarian. Furthermore, animals have always interested me, so I wanted to see how they are treated in the legal matters of this topic.
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