×
            

               

                  

                     

                     

                  

                  

                     

                     

                     

                     

                  

               

            
         

      

   













   
   
   
   





   
   

      

         

            welcome covers
         

         

            
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

            
SUBSCRIBE NOW

            

            
If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.


To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.


If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

         

      


Letters


Letters


Animal Reflexes • The Inconceivable Truth • Beauty and Artfulness • Fear of Equality • Environmental Mistakes • Musically Minded


Animal Reflexes


DEAR EDITOR: Philosophy Now 67 carried many discussions of the ethics and politics of animal treatment, including animal ‘rights’, without much mention of contrary views. Let me therefore very briefly summarize some arguments of my book, Putting Humans First:WhyWe Are Nature’s Favorite (2004) for your readers.


Rights aren’t about not being hurt or harmed: they are about a person’s freedom of choice.When one has rights, it means others may not intrude and do violence to one, even if the intrusion might do good or benefit the victim. Some exercise their freedom of choice to do harm to themselves – but still, others may not use coercive force to ‘help out’.


…