WHO ARE YOU ANIMAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES ANYWAY?

Do animals have rights? Different people give different answers. Sometimes people give different answers because of a disagreement about the facts. For example, some people believe cats and dogs, chickens and hogs do not feel anything; others believe they do. Sometimes different answers are given because of a disagreement over values. For example, some people believe animals have no value apart from human interests; others believe the opposite. Disgreements of both kinds are important certainly, and both will be explored along the way. As important as these kinds of disagreements are, neither touches a more basic source of division, this one concerning the idea of animal rights itself.

Some people think this idea is synonymous with being kind to animals. Since we should be kind to animals, the inference is obvious: animals have rights. Or they think animal rights mean avoiding cruelty. Since we sould not be cruel to animals, the same conclusion follows: animals have rights, it is hard to explain why the idea is so controversial, with animal rights advocates on one side and animal rights opponents on the other.

The heated, often acrimonious controversy that pits advocates against opponents tells us that these familiar ways of thinking (we should be kind to animals; we should not be cruel to them) fails to capture the real meaning of animal rights. Its real meaning, as it turns out, is both simple and profound.

Animal rights is a simple idea because, at the most basic level, it means only that animals have a right to be treated with respect. It is a profound idea because its implications are far-reaching. How far-reaching? Here are a few examples of how the world will have to change once we learn to treat animals with respect.

We will have to stop raising them for their flesh.

We will have to stop killing them for their fur.

We will have to stop training them to entertain us.

We will have to stop using them in scientific research.

Each example illustrates the same moral logic. When it comes to how humans exploit animals, recognition of their rights require abolition, not reform. Being kind to animals is not enough. Avoiding curelty is not enough. Whether we exploit animals to eat, to wear, to entertain us, or to learn, the truth of animal rights requires empty cages, not larger cages.

- Tom Regan