The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare Law
This article captures and critiques a recurring and prominent political argument against animal welfare improvements in Switzerland which we term the “ranking argument”. This states that Swiss animal welfare law ranks among the strictest in the world, therefore no improvements are called for. This...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Center for Animal Law and Ethics
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health |
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| Online Access: | https://leoh.ch/article/view/4382 |
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| author | Christian Rodriguez Perez Nico Dario Müller Kirsten Persson David Martin Shaw |
| author_facet | Christian Rodriguez Perez Nico Dario Müller Kirsten Persson David Martin Shaw |
| author_sort | Christian Rodriguez Perez |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This article captures and critiques a recurring and prominent political argument against animal welfare improvements in Switzerland which we term the “ranking argument”. This states that Swiss animal welfare law ranks among the strictest in the world, therefore no improvements are called for. This argument was advanced three times by Swiss government authorities in 2022 alone, but also in a case dating back to 1984, to advise the electorate on popular initiatives aiming at animal welfare improvements. We argue that, while the argument commits a fallacy of relative privation and is ethically dubious, it can be deployed to great effect by agents opposed to norm change in animal welfare regulation. We conclude with some thoughts on how the ranking argument can and should be challenged in public discourse.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dc3b53fd76644685b777d431f59e9f5c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2813-7434 |
| language | deu |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Center for Animal Law and Ethics |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-dc3b53fd76644685b777d431f59e9f5c2025-02-06T08:34:00ZdeuCenter for Animal Law and EthicsJournal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health2813-74342023-10-0110.58590/leoh.2023.004The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare LawChristian Rodriguez Perez0Nico Dario Müller1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0866-8235Kirsten Persson2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-1437David Martin Shaw3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8180-6927Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Basel, SwitzerlandPhilosophical Seminar, Department of Arts, Media, Philosophy, University of Basel, Basel, Switzer-landInstitute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Institute for Animal Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Farm Animal Behaviour, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, GermanyInstitute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Care and Public Health Research Institute Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands This article captures and critiques a recurring and prominent political argument against animal welfare improvements in Switzerland which we term the “ranking argument”. This states that Swiss animal welfare law ranks among the strictest in the world, therefore no improvements are called for. This argument was advanced three times by Swiss government authorities in 2022 alone, but also in a case dating back to 1984, to advise the electorate on popular initiatives aiming at animal welfare improvements. We argue that, while the argument commits a fallacy of relative privation and is ethically dubious, it can be deployed to great effect by agents opposed to norm change in animal welfare regulation. We conclude with some thoughts on how the ranking argument can and should be challenged in public discourse. https://leoh.ch/article/view/4382Ranking argumentSwiss Animal Welfare ActStatus quo defenceSwiss popular initiativesFallacy |
| spellingShingle | Christian Rodriguez Perez Nico Dario Müller Kirsten Persson David Martin Shaw The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare Law Journal of Animal Law, Ethics and One Health Ranking argument Swiss Animal Welfare Act Status quo defence Swiss popular initiatives Fallacy |
| title | The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare Law |
| title_full | The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare Law |
| title_fullStr | The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare Law |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare Law |
| title_short | The Ranking Argument - Challenging Favourable Comparative Rhetoric about Swiss Animal Welfare Law |
| title_sort | ranking argument challenging favourable comparative rhetoric about swiss animal welfare law |
| topic | Ranking argument Swiss Animal Welfare Act Status quo defence Swiss popular initiatives Fallacy |
| url | https://leoh.ch/article/view/4382 |
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