If we regard human rights as something possessed by all human beings, no matter how limited their intellectual or emotional capacities may be, how can we deny similar rights to great apes? To do so would be to display a prejudice against other beings merely because they are not members of our species - a prejudice we call speciesism, to highlight its resemblance to racism. The Spanish resolution marks the first official acceptance of that view. The use of the term "slavery" in relation to animals is especially significant, for it has been assumed that animals are rightly our slaves, to use as we wish, whether to pull our carts, be models of human diseases for research, or produce eggs, milk, or flesh for us to eat. Recognition by a government that it can be wrong to enslave animals is a significant breach in the wall of exclusive moral significance we have built around our own species. -- Peter SingerEntire article.
July 17, 2008
Peter Singer: Of great apes and men
Peter Singer says that, as Spain takes one great step forward for animal rights and liberty, activists elsewhere are persecuted:
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3 comments:
I'm not a fan of Peter Singer- in fact i think he hurts the movement and is inconsistent in his own dietary dalliances. But that said, i think he makes some very good points here.
Ryan, your point is very well taken, but I believe that Singer is merely being political. I sincerely believe that the language he used was carefully selected so as to not alienate the growing number of supporters. I think he realizes that this is a small step in the larger struggle for 'personhood' considerations which may or may not have distinctly 'human' characteristics as part of it.
Further, when he says "we" grant rights to humans no matter what, I don't think he's including himself. Singer, if you'll remember, is notorious for his position on the merciful euthanizing of infants born into chronic pain and who are terminally ill.
Something tells me that if you two sat down for a private conversation you'd have little to argue about in this regard.
@Ryan McReynolds:
And isn't "capable of suffering" another arbitrary line?
Full disclosure: I am a speciesist (even if I agree with great ape rights).
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