In Peter Singer's Animal Liberation, the main topic is how we, as a race, treat the species that we co-exist with. He is trying to get the point across that animals like people should be treated with respect and dignity. Singer is proposing a liberation for animals as we have had for our races and sexuality. He sees animals as the slaves of the twentieth century. .
He wants an immediate change in our attitudes towards animals. Singer thinks that instead of seeing the treatment of animals as natural and unavoidable, it needs to be seen as a moral outrage. I believe that some of the things that we use animals for is wrong and should defiantly be stopped, but some of the research is actually good. For instance I think it is wrong for us to test make-up and hair care products on animals. Also, on the other hand, I think that some research is good if it helps cure diseases or develop new ways of living better. .
Singer says that pain is a state consciousness or a mental event it can not be observed for viable research. This raises the question of do animals feel pain. Personally, I say yes, because they exhibit similar physical reactions to painful situations that humans do. When you step on someone's foot the person generally will have the reaction to say ouch. If you were to step on a dogs foot you would immediately hear a yelp of pain.
Many researchers have found that aside from the lack of a verbal language that most animals display emotions as we do. If an animal is sad it will hang it's head. If an animal is happy it will wag it's tail or be more playful. I find this to be very true because all my pets have a range of emotion.
Singer believes that animal liberation is not only based on the theory of speciesism. Speciesism is like racism, where it is the mistreatment of another species. In the book, Animals, Man and Morals, they pont out many ways that humans mistreat animals.
