Peter Carruthers
Morality is an agreement between rational beings: animals have no direct place in it.
Life
Peter Carruthers (born 1952) is a British philosopher, a professor at the University of Maryland after teaching at Sheffield. He works mainly on the mind, consciousness and self-knowledge. In The Animals Issue (1992) he argues that within a contractualist framework animals have no direct rights, but that some cruel acts remain wrong because of what they reveal about the agent's character.
Main works
Examines utilitarianism and contractualism on the animal question, and argues that animals have no direct moral standing.
Proposes a naturalistic theory of consciousness based on higher-order thoughts.
Argues that the question "are animals conscious?" has no determinate factual answer, and that this matters less than we think.
In his own words
« some actions are seriously wrong, not because they cause any harm or violate any rights, but simply because of what they reveal about the character of the agent. »
« Morality is here pictured as a system of rules to govern the interaction of rational agents within society. It therefore seems inevitable, on the face of it, that only rational agents will be assigned direct rights on this approach. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe treats the mind as a natural, scientifically explainable system, and consciousness as a feature of brain processing.
Carruthers, Phenomenal Consciousness (2000) ; Human and Animal Minds (2019)
He grounds morality in contractualism: the rules rational agents would agree on, not consequences, duty as such or virtue.
Carruthers, The Animals Issue: Moral Theory in Practice (1992)