Mich: The harm of death for animals

Espen Gamlund, University of Bergen

There is wide acceptance for the view that death can harm human beings or persons. There is less acceptance for the view that death can be harmful to animals, and this issue is much less discussed among philosophers than the harm of death for persons. One reason for such skepticism about whether death is harmful to animals, is that animals supposedly lack the relevant characteristic that would make their death harmful to them, i.e., they lack the type of consciousness or future-oriented interests that are supposed to be necessary in order for death to harm them. In this talk, I will argue that death can harm animals in similar ways as death harms human being or persons, namely by depriving them of future well-being.