The reality is that British liberal ideals of natural
rights to life, liberty, and property, developed by
philosophers such as John LOCKE, were projected back
into history as an ancient constitution to support a
political struggle in the 1600s in England and the
1700s in America. It is an example of using (or invent-
ing) the past to affect contemporary politics.
Further Reading
Pocock, J. G. A. The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1957.
animal rights
A political movement, primarily in the 20th century,
that argues for rights of nonhuman animals (dogs,
cats, foxes, chickens, whales, etc.) against domi-
nation or use by human beings. This ranges from
opposition to experimentation on animals (for med-
ical or cosmetic research) to prevention of cruel or
neglectful treatment of farm or domestic animals, to
vegetarianism, or the noneating of meat. Animal
rights organizations (such as P. E.T.A.: People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals) use a variety of
means to assert their cause—from lobbying legisla-
tures to pass laws protecting animals to public
demonstrations around animal laboratories, to des-
troying animal experimentation facilities and attack-
ing scientists.
The philosophic foundation of most animal rights
groups grows from a view that all living species are
equal and equally worthy of dignity and FREEDOM.
Opposition to this view comes from biologists who
note that most animal species kill other species for
food, from economic businesses that find markets for
animals, and from the Judeo-CHRISTIANperspective that
God gave animals to humanity for its use and so
humans properly have “dominion” over other crea-
tures (Genesis 10). Still, all of these arguments for
humans’ superiority to other animals concede that
humankind should take care of other creatures (Adam
is to “dress and keep” the Garden of Eden, Jesus is
described as “the good shepherd” who loves and cares
for the sheep, John 10:14–15). So, even in the Christ-
ian tradition, though animals are given by God to
humankind for use, humans are commended to be
kind to all living things, as gifts from God. As St. Peter
wrote of the prophet Balaam, “a dumb ass speaking
with a man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet”
(2 Peter 2:16).
Ancient Greek philosophy (the Platonist Porphyry)
held that human excellence forbids inflicting pain on
any living creature and (Plutarch’s Moralia) that vege-
tarianism respects the moral worth of animals.
Enlightenment rationalism in philosophers KANT
and Descartes is less sympathetic to animals’ moral
dignity because it claims that they do not have reason-
ing capabilities. Critics of this view fear that it can be
easily extended to humans who are devoid of reason
(mentally disabled, fetuses, the senile, etc.), so protect-
ing animal life helps to protect helpless human life.
The key to the modern animal liberation movement
is the prevention of suffering of animals, whether
inflicted by hunting, experimentation, or confinement.
The first law against cruelty to animals was passed
by the PURITANSin Massachusetts, North America, in- Other advocates of kindness to animals include
British philosopher Jeremy BENTHAM, Henry Salt,
George Bernard Shaw, and GANDHI. Early proponents of
animal rights, especially in England, were known as
Anti-Vivisection Leagues. Contemporary leaders in-
clude Peter Singer and Tom Regan.
An important distinction in the animal rights
movement is whether the motivation for noncruelty to
animals is primarily from the elevation of nonhuman
animals equal to that of humans or as the promotion
of human kindness and love generally and how best to
achieve that. It is a highly emotional issue that prom-
ises to remain a part of political theory and action in
the world.
Further Readings
Frey, R. G. Interests and Rights: The Case against Animals.
Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon Press, 1980.
Magel, C. R. A Bibliography on Animal Matters and Related Mat-
ters.Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1981.
Mason, J., and Singer, P. Animal Factories.New York: Crown,
1980.
Midgley, M. Animals and Why They Matter.Athens: University of
Georgia Press, 1983.
Morris, Richard Knowles, and Fox, Michael W., eds. On the Fifth
Day: Animal Rights & Human Ethics.Washington, D.C.:
Acropolis Books, 1978.
Regan, T. The Case for Animal Rights.Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1983.
Regan, Tom. All That Dwell Therein: Animal Rights and Environ-
mental Ethics. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1982.
Singer, P. Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of
Animals.New York: New York Review of Books, 1965.
Turner, J. Reckoning with the Beast: Animals, Pain, and Humanity
in the Victorian Mind.Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1980.
Williams, Jeanne, ed. Animal Rights.New York: H. W. Wilson,
1991.animal rights 13