Biocentric ethics and animal prosperity.

Area of Science:

• * Ethics
• * Animal Welfare
• * Environmental Philosophy

Background:

• * Critiques Peter Singer's utilitarianism and Tom Regan's deontology regarding animal moral standing.
• * Identifies limitations in existing ethical frameworks for animal rights, including a priori criteria and potential over-restriction.
• * Highlights the ambiguity in current ethical standards concerning the prevention of needless harm to animals.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To propose a new ethical framework, biocentric individualism, for assessing moral standing.
• * To establish species egalitarianism while allowing for human needs to supersede non-human needs in specific contexts.
• * To provide clear ethical guidelines for animal welfare, specifically addressing animal experimentation, factory farming, and sport hunting.

Main Methods:

• * Philosophical analysis and critique of existing ethical theories (utilitarianism, deontology).
• * Development of a novel ethical theory: biocentric individualism.
• * Application of the proposed theory to practical issues of animal exploitation.

Main Results:

• * Rejection of Singer's and Regan's criteria for moral standing due to a priori knowledge requirements and over-restrictiveness.
• * Assertion that mental properties are sufficient but not necessary for moral standing.
• * Establishment of biocentric individualism as a framework that upholds species egalitarianism and provides unambiguous recommendations against harmful practices.

Conclusions:

• * Biocentric individualism offers a more inclusive and practical approach to animal ethics than existing theories.
• * The theory unambiguously advocates for the abolition of animal experimentation, factory farming, and killing animals for sport.
• * Moral consideration should extend beyond beings with human-like mental properties, promoting a broader scope of ethical concern.