James Webster Rachels (May 30, 1941 – September 5, 2003) was an American philosopher who specialized in

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

Biography

Rachels was born in Columbus, Georgia, and graduated from

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 s ...

in 1962. He received his Ph.D. in 1967 from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, studying under W. D. Falk and E. M. Adams. He taught at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

, Duke University and the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established in 1936, the institution became a four-year campus in 1966 and a fully autonomous univ ...

, where he spent the last twenty-six years of his career. He married Carol Williams in 1962, and they had two sons, David and Stuart. As a teenager, he won a national speech contest that enabled him to appear on American Bandstand and to meet

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and Richard M. Nixon. He taught chess to his 9-year-old son, Stuart, who became the youngest chess master in American history at age 11. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Rachels started in 1977 as Chair of Philosophy, became Dean of Arts and Humanities from 1978-1983, and then one year as Acting Vice-President for University College. After retiring from administration at UAB, he was named University Professor and in 1992, the second Ireland Scholar. Over the course of his career, Rachels wrote 6 books and 85 essays, edited 7 books, and gave some 275 professional lectures. He argued for moral vegetarianism and animal rights, affirmative action, euthanasia, and the idea that parents should give as much fundamental moral consideration to another's children as they do to their own. Later in his career, Rachels realized that a lifetime of analysing specific moral issues had led him to adopt the general ethic of

utilitarianism In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different chara ...

, according to which actions are assessed by their effects on both human and nonhuman happiness. Rachels died from cancer on 5 September 2003, in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

Works

Rachels' best-known work is ''

The Elements of Moral Philosophy ''The Elements of Moral Philosophy'' is a 1986 ethics textbook by the philosophers James Rachels and Stuart Rachels. It explains a number of moral theories and topics, including cultural relativism, subjectivism, divine command theory, ethical e ...

''. It went to its sixth edition in 2009, having been revised by Rachels' son, Stuart Rachels. Among the subjects covered are

ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...

and simple

subjectivism Subjectivism is the doctrine that "our own mental activity is the only unquestionable fact of our experience", instead of shared or communal, and that there is no external or objective truth. The success of this position is historically attribute ...

emotivism Emotivism is a meta-ethical view that claims that ethical sentences do not express propositions but emotional attitudes. Hence, it is colloquially known as the hurrah/boo theory. Influenced by the growth of analytic philosophy and logical positi ...

, as well as

and

psychological egoism Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. It claims that, when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal benefi ...

. The text uses real-world examples to highlight points regarding complicated philosophical principles. Rachels had a history of using such examples. The publication in 1971 of his anthology, ''Moral Problems'', marked a shift from teaching meta-ethics in American colleges to teaching concrete practical issues. ''Moral Problems'' sold 100,000 copies over three editions. In 1975, Rachels wrote "Active and Passive Euthanasia", which originally appeared in the ''

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'', and argued that the distinction so important in the law between killing and

letting die In non-consequentialist ethical thought, there is a moral distinction between killing and letting die. Whereas killing involves intervention, letting die involves withholding care. Also in medical ethics there is a moral distinction between eutha ...

(often based on the

principle of double effect The principle of double effect – also known as the rule of double effect; the doctrine of double effect, often abbreviated as DDE or PDE, double-effect reasoning; or simply double effect – is a set of ethical criteria which Christian philosop ...

) has no rational basis. He argued that, if we allow passive euthanasia, we should also allow active euthanasia, because it is more humane, and because there is no significant moral difference between killing and allowing to die. ''The End of Life'' (1986), a moral treatise on life and death, broadened and deepened these ideas. Rachels wrote only a few works that were not directly focused on ethics. ''Created from Animals'' (1990) made the case that a

Darwinian Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that ...

world-view has widespread philosophical implications, including drastic implications for our treatment of nonhuman entities. ''Can Ethics Provide Answers?'' (1997) was Rachels's first collection of papers. His second, ''The Legacy of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

'', was published posthumously in 2007. Shortly before his death, he wrote ''Problems from Philosophy'' (2005), an introduction to philosophy.

Vegetarianism

Rachels authored papers defending

moral vegetarianism Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. D ...

. His best known paper on the subject was ''The Basic Argument for Vegetarianism'' in 2004. Rachels proposed what he called the basic argument for vegetarianism which he believed is supported by a simple principle that every decent person accepts: it is wrong to cause pain unless there is a good enough reason.Walters, Kerry. (2012). ''Vegetarianism: A Guide for the Perplexed''. Continuum International Publishing Group. pp. 34-35. Huemer, Michael. (2019). ''Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism''. Routledge. Rachels argued that the primary reason why cruelty to animals is wrong is because tortured animals suffer, just as tortured humans suffer.Mappes, Thomas A; Zembaty, Jane S. (1982). ''Social Ethics: Morality and Social Policy''. McGraw-Hill. p. 389 He held the view that inflicting pain on animals can sometimes be justified but we must have a sufficiently good reason for doing so. The idea to consume meat just because it tastes good does not come close to justifying the cruelty of the meat industry. Rachels stated that "from a practical standpoint, it makes sense to focus first on the things that cause the most misery". At the top of this list was factory farming. According to Rachels' basic argument, abstention from factory-farmed animals is necessary as these animals suffer the most.

Bibliography

*with Stuart Rachels (2008). ''The Truth About the World : Basic Readings in Philosophy''. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. . *with Stuart Rachels (2006). ''The Legacy of Socrates: Essays in Moral Philosophy''. Columbia University Press. . *(2005). ''Problems from Philosophy''. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. *(2004)
''The Basic Argument for Vegetarianism''
In Sapontzis (ed.) ''Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat''. Prometheus Books. pp. 70–80. *(2004). ''A Moral Defense of Vegetarianism''. In Christina Hoff Sommers, Frederic Tamler Sommers. ''Vice & Virtue in Everyday Life: Introductory Readings in Ethics''. Wadsworth. pp. 591–595. *(1998). ''Ethical Theory: Theories About how we Should Live''. Oxford University Press. . *(1997). ''Can Ethics Provide Answers?: And Other Essays in Moral Philosophy''. Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc. . *(1990). ''Created From Animals: The Moral implications of Darwinism''. Oxford University Press. . *(1989). ''The Right Thing to Do: Basic Readings in Moral Philosophy''. Random House. . *(1986). ''The End of Life: Euthanasia and Morality''. Oxford University Press. . *(1986). ''The Elements of Moral Philosophy''. New York: Random House. .

References

External links