Do Animals Have Rights?

By Mark Viney
Bristol University, UK.

Humans have rights, but how do these extend to our animal cousins? This is both a question of biology and of philosophy. In this book a clear philosophical path is built through these emotive issues. This book is very good, because it clarifies and separates our very often muddled thinking about ourselves and other animals. It should be read by anyone who has ever expressed an opinion about how we do, or how we should, treat animals.

Here is the headline of the argument. Humans are autonomous beings: we reflect on our beliefs and desires and can reason changes in our behaviour. As far as we know, other animals do not. A consequence of this difference, is that humans can be praised or punished for actions; animals cannot. This moves on to finding that humans and animals have moral status; it matters what happens to them. But, plants are excluded. Why? They are excluded because if they were given a moral status it would mean that our everyday actions (eating plants, treading on daisies) would be too demanding.

This highlights a difficulty I have with this book, perhaps with philosophy. If the logic of each philosophical argument is followed absolutely and followed to its extreme then one position is reached; but, this isn’t done and instead these logical paths are only followed to a certain (subjective?) extent. Perhaps that is why philosophy is a humanity, not a science. But, back to the headlines: moral status and the question of right to life, where a lovely analogy is used. Humans have a right to life, because the importance of one’s life to one's self is greater than anyone else's value of one's life. I can refuse to die even if my death would actually benefit you: my right trumps yours. Animals don’t have this right to life, because they cannot assert a right, they can’t trump the value others place on their lives. Here a crucial distinction is made: animals have moral status, it matters what happens to them, and so they shouldn’t be harmed or killed for fun; but, they don't have a right to life.

So, can philosophy be used for anything useful? The book powerfully concludes that it can, because it applies this philosophical background to answer real, current animal questions: farming animals for food - it depends on how nasty the farming is; hunting foxes - not enough is known to justify the current ban; experimenting on animals - a clear yes.

[Alison Hills, Do animals have rights? Icon Books Ltd , 2005]

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