The question about animals

We take it for granted that we can use non-human animals for our own interests. We kill them to eat them, we use them for work or pleasure, we instrumentalize them in all kinds of research, and we rarely ask ourselves whether our behavior is morally justified. Certainly, in theory, we acknowledge the obligation not to cause unnecessary suffering, but our needs are interpreted so broadly that such a restriction carries no weight. In short, non-human animals are at the bottom of the pyramid, at the top of which we have placed ourselves.

This statement refers to the factual starting point for Paola Cavalieri's considerations. But are the facts compatible with the moral status of animals, as we would describe it after in-depth and as impartial considerations as possible?

Cavalieri examines the historical philosophical and scientific changes in our understanding of animals and investigates the structure of the moral community based on generally accepted fundamental concepts. She asks by what criteria we include or exclude beings from it and subjects these criteria to critical scrutiny.

She concludes that the exclusion of animals from the moral community is not justified. According to Cavalieri, the objective comparison of the different arguments allows for only one conclusion: Animals, too, should enjoy a minimum degree of equality and equal rights that enables them to lead a dignified life.

Cavalieri sees an extended theory of human rights as the appropriate means to ensure this. The plea for such an extended theory of human rights and the outline of its most important features conclude Cavalieri's considerations.

Peter Singer on this book:
“A brilliant, precise exposition of the argument for basic rights for animals and a significant new contribution to the ongoing debate. Cavalieri shows that current discussions in ethics and bioethics risk arbitrariness and incoherence because they have failed to address the question of the status of animals. From now on, opponents of animal rights must try to answer Cavalieri's argument, and anyone publishing in bioethics will have to meet her challenge.”

Paola Cavalieri is the editor of the journal Etica & Animali. Together with Peter Singer, she initiated the Great Ape Project and in 1994 published the volume Menschenrechte für die Großen Menschenaffen. Das Great Ape Projekt (Human Rights for the Great Apes. The Great Ape Project).

For an extended theory of human rights

(Animal Rights - Human Duties; Vol. 8)

Paola Cavalieri

Publisher: Harald Fischer, Erlangen

ISBN 3-89131-407-8