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Understanding Animal Rights Concepts

Animal rights is the idea that non-human animals are entitled to their own existence and interests, such as avoiding suffering, and should be afforded the same consideration as humans. Its advocates oppose assigning moral value based solely on species, arguing animals should no longer be viewed as property. While critics argue animals cannot enter a social contract or have duties and rights, some legal scholars support extending basic legal rights to certain animals like bonobos and chimpanzees due to their mental complexity. However, others oppose this because it predicates value on mental abilities rather than just sentience. Utilitarians also argue animals may be used as long as there is no unnecessary suffering and their interests can be overridden by humans.

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7 views1 page

Understanding Animal Rights Concepts

Animal rights is the idea that non-human animals are entitled to their own existence and interests, such as avoiding suffering, and should be afforded the same consideration as humans. Its advocates oppose assigning moral value based solely on species, arguing animals should no longer be viewed as property. While critics argue animals cannot enter a social contract or have duties and rights, some legal scholars support extending basic legal rights to certain animals like bonobos and chimpanzees due to their mental complexity. However, others oppose this because it predicates value on mental abilities rather than just sentience. Utilitarians also argue animals may be used as long as there is no unnecessary suffering and their interests can be overridden by humans.

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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 existence 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.[3]
Its 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.[4] They maintain that
animals should no longer be viewed as property or used as food, clothing, research
subjects, entertainment, or beasts of burden.[5] Multiple cultural traditions around the world
such as Jainism, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Animism also espouse some forms of
animal rights.
In parallel to the debate about moral rights, animal law is now widely taught in law schools
in North America, and several prominent legal scholars[who?] support the extension of basic
legal rights and personhood to at least some animals. The animals most often considered in
arguments for personhood are bonobos and chimpanzees. This is supported by some
animal rights academics because it would break through the species barrier, but opposed
by others because it predicates moral value on mental complexity, rather than
on sentience alone.[6]
Critics of animal rights argue that nonhuman animals are unable to enter into a social
contract, and thus cannot be possessors of rights, a view summed up by the
philosopher Roger Scruton, who writes that only humans have duties, and therefore only
humans have rights.[7] Another argument, associated with the utilitariantradition, is that
animals may be used as resources so long as there is no unnecessary suffering;[8] they may
have some moral standing, but they are inferior in status to human beings, and any
interests they have may be overridden, though what counts as "necessary" suffering or a
legitimate sacrifice of interests varies considerably.[9]Certain forms of animal rights activism,
such as the destruction of fur farms and animal laboratories by the Animal Liberation Front,
have also attracted criticism, including from within the animal rights movement itself,[10] as
well as prompted reaction from the U.S. Congress with the enactment of laws allowing
these activities to be prosecuted as terrorism, including the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.
[11]

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