
Your complimentary articles
You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please
If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.
To buy or renew a subscription please visit Subscriptions.
If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.
Books
Defending Animal Rights by Tom Regan
Lisa Kemmerer cheers on Tom Regan as he defends the idea of animals having rights.
Amongst ethical topics, animal rights is perhaps the hottest, most divisive, and least understood.
Animal rights is about rights, just like human rights revolve around the concept of rights. Animal rights is a specific moral theory, not a catch-all for pro-animal points of view. Those who support animal rights specifically assert that animals have rights, just as those who defend human rights assert that people have rights. Those who represent animal rights generally argue that much of what we do to other animals is immoral because nonhuman animals have rights that ought to be respected.
…