Blog 2 ~ Animals are concious beings

Kant speaks of our “duties towards animals” as being “indirect duties to mankind.” While I agree with this statement, my opinion strongly differs from his when he speaks of animals being merely a “means to an end,” and mindless beings containing no self-conscious. It is as if Kant only views animals as things to practice good behavior on so as to further our human interactions, and ultimately mankind as a whole. I agree that good and respectful behavior towards animals helps to establish better relationships with people, but animals are not mindless things where their sole purpose is to serve the human race. Having spending months with elephants in the bush, or with chimpanzees in Uganda for instance, gives much insight into just how complex animals are. Chimpanzees share 98.7% of our DNA, and have complex social systems and ways of living. Prior to Jane Goodall’s research in Gombe, we thought that man was the only one to ever make and use tools, and that was surely what separated us from animals. However, old knowledge was proved wrong when it was discovered that chimpanzees make tools and utilize them for feeding purposes etc. How can anyone possibly say that animals don’t have a conscious mind? Elephants frequently visit the bones (or graveyards) of old relatives who have died. I’ve seen them numerous times come upon such bones, and gently handle them, put them up to their mouths, carry them around. They remember their old kin; they, like chimps, also have complex social systems. They have consciousness similar to humans. Only one who has never really spent time observing them would be able to say that they are mindless beings.