Last Wednesday the philosophy film series showed “The Cove”: A film about the practice of dolphin hunting off the coast of Thaiji Japan. I didn’t get a chance to view the film at he screening with the rest of you guys, so I watched it over fall break and decided to air my thoughts on the blog.
What caught my attention was not that Ric O’Barry advocated for the rights of the dolphin to be protected, and thus guard against hunting them. Instead, what caught my attention was the argument Barry uses to defend his position that dolphins should be protected under the Whaling commission’s regulations. Barry says that the first event which caused him to question the way in which dolphins were treated in captivity was on the set of “Flipper”: the T.V. series. While Barry was training one of the dolphins that played the part of flipper, Barry says that the dolphin knowingly and consciously chose to stop its own breathing, resulting in the dolphins death. Barry claims the dolphin, “committed suicide”.
Barry claims that it was at this moment of watching this dolphin lose its life as a result of it being depressed. This depression Barry claims was a result of living in captivity for several years. Barry argues that dolphins are, like humans, “social creatures” and that they have very complex ways of communicating. Barry says that the sonar calls which dolphins use to communicate with one another is more complex than we humans can imagine. This leads Barry to the conclusion that dolphins are “smart”.
We have seen before in thinkers like Aristotle and Beacon that the ability to communicate is something that separates the humans from the animals. Other criteria like reason, and intelligence have also been classically identified as the standard for a being to be recognized as morally considerable. This is where Barry’s argument that dolphins should be protected because of their intelligence loses its footing.
While I don’t wish to condemn Barry for advocating for dolphin rights, I don’t think any person would except for maybe the fishermen of Thaiji, it bothers me that his argument is a thin veil hiding a speciesist attitude. If Barry wishes to extend moral considerability to dolphins on the basis of their intelligence, Barry must also concede, which I don’t think he would be happy doing, that there are plenty of animals which aren’t intelligence, but are being poached every day, and in greater numbers than dolphins. If human-like intelligence is the basis for Barry’s claim that dolphins should be equally morally considerable to humans, he must also consent that those animals without signs of human intelligence are not morally considerable, or change the basis for his advication for dolphin rights.
Thanks for making a post about this Cole. I agree that Barry may be a speciesist, but I don’t really think that thought, or any thought pertaining to the establishment of a sphere of moral considerability for that manner, more than crossed his mind. Flipper spawned the global trafficking and captivity industry of dolphins. As the head trainer of the dolphins in Flipper, Barry feels single-handedly responsible for the creation of this industry and the detriment it has caused to the victimized dolphins. You can imagine the emotional effect it has had on him-it certainly shows in the film. Even if Barry were an advocate for all animal rights, based on the circumstances I don’t think he is to blame for solely focusing his campaigning on dolphin’s rights, especially while they are still being kept in captivity, trafficked, and killed.
ReplyDeleteThe killing of the dolphins is so appalling on so many levels it makes me sick. Even our animal hating friend Descartes would say that it is wrong, as the dolphin meat that the Thaiji fishermen try to sell has high levels of mercury and other chemicals that are bad for human health. I’m not positive, but I assume that the fishermen were made aware of these health risks. Even with this knowledge, they not only continued to attempt to sell the meat, but they tried to make it a regular part of school lunches for kids! WTF! Their defense is that it is tradition, and that their culture depends on the sale of dolphin meat to survive. One can quite clearly see how this argument falls apart logically, as anybody could then use this idea to justify any unethical or illegal activity so long as they benefit economically. These people are criminals, and should be locked up.
If you haven’t gotten a chance to watch the film, you definitely should. It’s sad but well worth it.