Online Class Notes (Ally)[R]

Next Class Focus

Yim was late (from not getting up on time hehe) so we didn’t get to finish the reading material.

Underlined words are words he had problems with.

Can try to explain the following new vocabulary a bit more.

Vocabulary

entitled: to have rights 有资格的,有资格享受的

outlandish: out-of-this-world, weird 奇异古怪的

ruling: (verb: to rule)(动词)裁决

primates: animals, simpler than human beings

lab: 实验室

animal sanctuary 一个动物庇护所、动物保护区

a moral code 一项道德规范

to commit crimes 犯罪

to grant basic rights 授予基本权力

Reading

Should animals be entitled to the same rights as people? The question is not so outlandishJudge Barbara Jaffe was ruling on the case of Leo and Hercules. These two primates have their own lawyers arguing that they should be moved from a university lab to an animal sanctuary. She did change her mind after a while.

Animals have always intrigued us. Some people find them very intelligent and capable of friendship, jealousy and longing. That’s enough to give them rights, isn’t it? Not for people like Professor Carl Cohen of the University of Michigan. He says that rights are a concept special to the human moral code. And animals don’t know anything about right and wrong. The academic points out: “Animals do not commit crimes; animals are not attacked for their moral views.”

What do you think? Should animals have rights similar to humans?