Preview

Jeremy Rikin Essay

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
457 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Jeremy Rikin Essay
Karenne Uribe
Mrs. Ponce
English 12.6
13 December 2014 In this article, “A Change of Heart about Animals,” Jeremy Rifkin argues that animals are the same as humans because they have emotions, cognitive abilities and are self-aware. Rifkin supports his argument by using the rhetorical tools of comparing and pathos. His purpose is to encourage people to take action in order to treat animals more humanely. His audience is people who read the LA Times and his tone is compassionate.
Rifkin’s purpose to his argument is to encourage people to take action in order to treat animals more humanely. He does this by giving animals human characteristics such as names and calling them fellow creatures. He believes animals should stop being used in experiments, circuses, as entertainment, stop hunting them and be recognized as fellow creatures due to their similarities to humans. Rifkin supports his argument by comparing animals to humans. He does this by providing evidence that animals having emotions, cognitive abilities, and self-awareness like humans. An example he gives of animals having emotions is the study on pigs’ social behavior. According to studies funded by McDonald’s at Purdue University pigs crave attention, like most humans, and are easily depressed if isolated or denied playtime. He also argues that animals have cognitive abilities like the two New Caledonian crows named Betty and Abel. In a controlled experiment, scientists at Oxford University reported that the two birds were able to problem solve when given the choice between using two tools, a hooked wire, and the other a straight wire, to snag a piece of meat from inside a tube. He also argued that animals have self-awareness. New studies at the Washington National Zoo show when given a mirror an orangutan named Chantek used it to groom his teeth and adjust his sunglasses, showing a sense of self. Rifkin also uses pathos to make his argument clear, convincing, and engaging. In his argument he gives the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Animals deserve rights because just like humans, they feel excruciating pain, suffer and have feelings. One would argue that animals don’t experience emotions? But the answer is of course they do. It is emotions that allow animals to display various behavior patterns. According to the theory of utilitarianism, all sentient beings should be given consideration in the society and this includes both animals and humans. Also, animals cannot speak for themselves and for this reason they should be treated equally, protected and given the same respect as human beings. Peter singer’s approach also supports the argument on equal consideration in that animals deserve the same respect as human beings but just in a different view. In today’s society humans exploit animals for milk, meat, fur, scientific experimentation etc. and animals are constantly injured or killed. Their pain and sufferings should be taken into consideration, as this unjust treatment is morally unacceptable. Similarly speciesism is an…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I am writing to you regarding Mr. Jeremy Rifkin’s article.”A Change Of Heart About Animals” I personally didnt agree with much of what Rifkin said.To me he is a man who just talks and doesnt really go in to depth or think what hes trying to say through.He reccomended we give pigs toys so that they would be more happier and less agressive.Mr. Bob Stevens on the other hand had an amazing argument to what Mr.Rifkin was saying it was outstanding.Rifkin makes an argument saying that we should be more sympathetic on how we treat our animals.Logically there is million of kids in the world who do not have toys but have familes and can not afford them.So there is a dirty pig who is destin for slaughter that is given the oppurtunity to have toys,they…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jeremy Rifkin, an American economist, writer and public speaker, is founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends (FOET). In his article, “A Change of Heart about Animals,” published in the Los Angeles Times (2003), suggests that animals are more like humans in the sense that they are capable of feeling emotions as well as comprehending concepts much like we’ve never expected. He supports his claim by providing a series of statistics, facts and rhetorical questions, all of which have a strong appeal directly to logos and indirectly to pathos.…

    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In discussion of inhumane treatment, a controversial issue is whether animals are entitled to their rights. While some argue that only humans have rights, others contend that animals should have the same privileges as humans. The author of “A Change of Heart about Animals,” Jeremy Rifkin, claims that animals should have better treatment. Rifkin rhetorically changes one’s view on this subject without the consent of the reader. Rifkin begins by showing the animals’ human qualities, then giving a counter statement to common objections, and finally ends it by utilizing negative language. Rifkin’s expressive strategy is to note the similarities between animals and humans. Rifkin mentions Koko, a 300-pound gorilla. Koko was able to learn sign language…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “A Change of Heart about Animals” by Jeremy Rifkin. This article talks about how animals are so much like us. Jeremy Rifkin asserted in his September fifth letter announcing that creatures were equipped for each feeling an individual was, and requesting that all individuals augment a feeling of balance and compassion to living creatures equivalent to that they would give an alternate person. This is clearly preposterous and, in the event that you truly make a stride back and take a gander at the procedure behind the thought, unexpected.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jeff Wood Essay

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Friday to halt the scheduled execution of a man who did not kill anyone.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rikki Tiki Theme Essay

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This theme first presents itself in the first part of the story, when Rikki is found by Teddy and his family. Rikki is revived by the father after having been swept up by a flood and losing consciousness. Had Teddy not been curious enough to wander about and find the seemingly dead mongoose or tell his parents that he had found a ‘dead’ mongoose, Rikki would not have gotten revived by Teddy’s father and would have surely been devoured or attacked by a snake or some other animal while he lay unconscious on the ground. Teddy’s curiosity helped to save Rikki’s life as well as the lives of himself and his family, as without Rikki there to protect them, they all would have been bitten and killed by Nagaina and Nag.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A “Change Of Heart” by Jeremy Rifkin explains how animals are more similar to a human that we ever expected, Rifkin tries to expand our empathy towards animals and makes us dig deeper into the world of animal rights. In this article the author brings up how animals have feelings such as pain, stress, affection, excitement, and love, more into the article the author gives us an example of how pigs get easily depressed if they don't get enough affection and people can relate in how if it only an “ animal “ how can it get depressed but heres is how animals are indeed much like a human but we keep making ourselves believe that they are inferior from us, the author also gives us another example of a gorilla from the gorilla foundation in northern…

    • 234 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As humans, we have been naturally inclined to eat meat since the start of our existence. But many people believe that using an animal for our own personal gain is very unethical. One such group, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), published “Animals Used for Food” in 2016 on their organizational website, they argue that animals are compassionate just like we are and that people need to be their heroes. PETA’s audience incorporates everyday people in a global aspect. This article combines the rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos and pathos. The author of this article mostly uses the emotional appeal of pathos to help persuade people to help them in their efforts to save the animals.…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Later he states “Philosophers long argued that other animals are not capable of self awareness because they lack individualism… At the Washington National Zoo, orangutans given mirrors explore parts of their bodies they can't otherwise see, showing a sense of self.” Here he is stating how animals do in fact have a sense of self awareness and that orangutans are a prime example. I disagree with this reason being that Rifkin didn’t give the name of the philosophers who said this, making it not credible because anyone could have said that. Also they are not really giving the orangutans to freely observe themselves because they have them locked up in enclosure at the Washington national zoo.…

    • 396 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Your newspaper published an editorial “A Change of Heart about Animals” September 1, 2003 by Jeremy Rifkin, author and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, in which Rifkin suggests that the center of the human experience is about extending concern to wider and wider realms to the species we share the world with (34). He implies throughout the article that animals like us, feel pain, experience stress, affection, excitement, and even love (33) . He claims that animals should be treated better because they experience similar emotions we do. By focusing on the ideal of extending the amount of empathy we give to animals, Jeremy Rifkin overlooks the deeper issue of how these creatures of the world feel about us because he does not consider that like them, we…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jeremy Rifkin in the article “A Change of Heart About Animals” describes how the lives of animals are all for the benefit of the human race and how animals deserve more respect. Many concerned and caring people believe that animals should be treated with love and respect. The reality of this is that Rifkin seizes to comprehend that the life without using animals as a benefit is highly unlikely and would just further complicate the already complex world we live in today. To some point I can agree with Rifkin, but highly disagree with him when it comes to how animals are only used for benefiting humans.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Peter Singer Argument

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages

    2. In “Animal Liberation”, Peter Singer argues that human suffering and animal suffering should be given equal consideration. He believes that a lot of our modern practices are speciesist, and that they hold our best interest above all else. The only animals that we give equal consideration are humans. He questions our reasonings for giving equal consideration to all members to our species, because, some people are more superior than others, in terms of intelligence or physical strength. Humans value themselves over…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Researchers were amazed more recently, with the discovery of the extent to which New Caledonian crows, attain conceptual abilities, Jeremy Rifkin said “In controlled experiments, scientists at Oxford University reported that two birds named Betty and Abel were given a choice between using two tools, one a straight wire, the other a hooked wire, to snag a piece of meat from inside a tube.” Self-awareness is another aspect, which raises the question of whether these animals’ inferiority affects their mentality.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles Darwin noted that humans have a number of behaviours in common with other animals. However, apart from the moral issues of using animals in research, Cardwell argues that studying animals can lead to ‘anthropomorphism’, which is the error of seeing animal characteristics in people and human characteristics in animals. Just because animal behaviour looks like human behaviour, that doesn’t mean it has the same causes.…

    • 4135 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Good Essays