Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief

Authors

Kristin Andrews, York UniversityFollow
Gary L. Comstock, North Carolina State UniversityFollow
G.K.D. Crozier, Laurentian University
Sue Donaldson, independent researcherFollow
Andrew Fenton, Dalhousie University
Tyler M. John, Rutgers University - New Brunswick/Piscataway
Cassie Meré Johnson, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
L. Syd M. Johnson, Michigan Technological University
Robert C. Jones, California State UniversityFollow
Will Kymlicka, Queen's University - Kingston, OntarioFollow
Letitia Meynell, Dalhousie University
Nathan Nobis, Morehouse CollegeFollow
David Peña-Guzman, San Francisco State University

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Abstract

In Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief, a group of renowned philosophers considers these questions. Carefully and clearly, they examine the four lines of reasoning the courts have used to deny chimpanzee personhood: species, contract, community, and capacities. None of these, they argue, merits disqualifying chimpanzees from personhood. The authors conclude that when judges face the choice between seeing Kiko and Tommy as things and seeing them as persons—the only options under current law—they should conclude that Kiko and Tommy are persons who should therefore be protected from unlawful confinement "in keeping with the best philosophical standards of rational judgment and ethical standards of justice."

ISBN

9780429461071

Publication Date

8-30-2018

Publisher

Routledge

City

London

Disciplines

Animal Experimentation and Research | Animal Law | Applied Behavior Analysis

Recommended Citation

Andrews, Kristin; Comstock, Gary L.; Crozier, G.K.D.; Donaldson, Sue; Fenton, Andrew; John, Tyler M.; Johnson, Cassie Meré; Johnson, L. Syd M.; Jones, Robert C.; Kymlicka, Will; Meynell, Letitia; Nobis, Nathan; and Peña-Guzman, David, "Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers’ Brief" (2018). eBooks. 17.
https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/ebooks/17