Animal rights activist
| Animal rights | |
|---|---|
| Description of beliefs | Non-human animals have interests, and those interests ought not to be discriminated against on the basis of species membership alone. |
| Early proponents | Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) Henry Salt (1851–1939) Lizzy Lind af Hageby (1878–1963) Leonard Nelson (1882–1927) |
| Notable academic proponents | |
| List | List of animal rights advocates |
| Key texts |
Henry Salt's Animals' Rights (1894) Peter Singer's Animal Liberation (1975) Tom Regan's The Case for Animal Rights (1983) Carol J Adams's The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory (1990) Gary Francione's Animals, Property, and the Law (1995) |
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Animal rights is the idea in which some, or all, non-human animals are entitled to the possession of their own lives and that their most basic interests—such as the need to avoid suffering—should be afforded the same consideration as similar interests of human beings. Advocates oppose the assignment of moral value and fundamental protections on the basis of species membership alone—an idea known since 1970 as speciesism, when the term was coined by Richard D. Ryder—arguing that it is a prejudice as irrational as any other. They maintain that animals should no longer be viewed as property or used as food, clothing, research subjects, entertainment, or beasts of burden.
Advocates approach the issue from a variety of perspectives. The abolitionist view is that animals have moral rights, which the pursuit of incremental reform may undermine by encouraging human beings to feel comfortable with using them. Gary Francione's abolitionist position promotes ethical veganism. He argues that animal rights groups that pursue welfare concerns, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), risk making the public feel comfortable about its use of animals. He calls such groups "the new welfarists." PETA argues that Francione's criticism does little to help alleviate the suffering of individual animals and also trivializes the efforts of workers in the field who handle cruelty cases. It also creates divisiveness within the animal liberation movement instead of focusing on shared goals.Tom Regan, as a deontologist, argues that at least some animals are "subjects-of-a-life", with beliefs, desires, memories, and a sense of their own future, who must be treated as ends in themselves, not as means to an end.Sentiocentrism is the theory that sentient individuals are the subject of moral concern and therefore are deserving of rights. Protectionists seek incremental reform in how animals are treated, with a view to ending animal use entirely, or almost entirely. This position is represented by the philosopher Peter Singer. As a utilitarian, Singer's focus is not on moral rights, but on the argument that animals have interests—particularly an interest in not suffering—and that there is no moral or logical reason not to award those interests equal consideration. Multiple cultural traditions around the world—such as Animism, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism—also espouse some forms of animal rights.
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