Advocates of animal rights support the philosophy of
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
. They believe that many or all
sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as in avoiding
suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of a ...
—should be afforded the same consideration as similar interests of human beings. They employ a variety of methods including
direct action
Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...
to oppose
animal agriculture
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, startin ...
. Many
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
advocates argue that non-human animals should be regarded as persons whose interests deserve legal protection.
Background
The animal rights movement emerged in the 19th century, focused largely on opposition to
vivisection
Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...
, and in the 1960s the modern movement sprang up in England around the
Hunt Saboteurs Association
The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) is a United Kingdom organisation that uses hunt sabotage as a means of direct action to stop fox hunting. It was founded in 1963, with its first sabotage event occurring at the South Devon Foxhounds on 26 De ...
. In the 1970s, the Australian and American philosophers,
Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...
and
Tom Regan
Tom Regan (; November 28, 1938 – February 17, 2017) was an American philosopher who specialized in animal rights theory. He was professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State University, where he had taught from 1967 until his reti ...
, began to provide the movement with its philosophical foundations. Singer argued for animal liberation on the basis of
utilitarianism
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charact ...
, first in 1973 in ''The New York Review of Books'' and later in his ''
Animal Liberation'' (1975), while Regan developed a
deontological
In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek: + ) is the normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules and principles, ra ...
theory of animal rights in several papers from 1975 onwards, followed by ''The Case for Animal Rights'' (1983).
A distinction persists within the movement—based on the utilitarian/deontological divide—between those who seek incremental reform, a position known as
animal protectionism
Animal protectionism is a position within animal rights theory that favors incremental change in pursuit of non-human animal interests. It is contrasted with abolitionism, the position that human beings have no moral right to use animals, and ought ...
, and those on the
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
side, who argue that reform that aims to regulate, rather than abolish, the property status of animals is counterproductive.
Historically speaking, it can be argued that the genesis of the
animal rights movement
The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, ...
was in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
given the impact that both
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
and
Jainism
Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...
had on people in India and the neighbouring countries in Asia. The country with the largest number and highest percentage of vegetarians is India. Buddhism among the global religions is an animal rights religion par excellence. It has long subscribed to the belief that all life forms including that of non-human animals are sacred and deserving of respect, and extolls kindness and compassion as utmost virtues worthy of cultivation. Buddhism unreservedly embraces all living beings in its ethical
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
without discrimination on grounds of species, race, or creed. Buddhist tenets—including the first precept, "Do not kill"—extend to both human and non-human sentient beings. The Buddha was so adamant and protective of the more vulnerable members of the moral community—namely the animals—that he declared that: "He who has laid aside the cudgel that injures any creature whether moving or still, who neither slays nor causes to be slain—him I call an Arya (Noble person)" (
Dhammapada
The Dhammapada (Pāli; sa, धर्मपद, Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka ...
). The earliest reference to the idea of non-violence to animals (''pashu-ahimsa''), apparently in a moral sense, is in the Kapisthala Katha Samhita of the
Yajurveda
The ''Yajurveda'' ( sa, यजुर्वेद, ', from ' meaning "worship", and ''veda'' meaning "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell C ...
(KapS 31.11), a
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
text written about the 8th century BCE. Several Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist texts appearing in the following centuries, including the Tamil moral texts of the
Tirukkural
The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven ...
and the
Naladiyar, emphasize on
ahimsa
Ahimsa (, IAST: ''ahiṃsā'', ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in most Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.Bajpai, Shiva (2011). The History of India ...
and
moral vegetarianism
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. D ...
, which is equated to today's
veganism
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...
.
List
The following is a list of impactful animal rights advocates from all positions within the movement, from academics to activists.
See also
*
Animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
*
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...
*
List of vegans
Veganism involves following a vegan diet, which is a diet that includes no animal products of any kind. It can extend to ethical veganism which avoids or boycotts all products and activities whose production or undertaking is perceived to ...
*
List of vegetarians
This is a list of people who have permanently adopted a vegetarian diet at some point during their life. Former vegetarians and those whose status is disputed are ''not'' included on this list.
The following list does not include vegetarians wh ...
*
List of peace activists
This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work ...
*
List of animal rights groups
This list of animal rights groups consists of groups in the animal rights movement. Such animal rights groups work towards their ideals, which include the viewpoint that animals should have equivalent rights to humans, such as not being "used" in ...
*
List of animal advocacy parties
In the early 21st century, several political parties were founded that have as their main goal the improvement of animal welfare and the recognition of animal rights:
})
,
,
, In short: .Represented in the European Parliament with 1 seat ...
References
Further reading
* Beauchamp, Tom and Frey, R.G. (eds.). ''The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics''. Oxford University Press, 2011.
* Bekoff, Marc (ed.). ''The Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare''. Greenwood, 2009.
* Linzey, Andrew (ed.). ''Animal Encyclopedia''. University of Princeton Press (forthcoming).
* Linzey, Andrew (ed.). ''The Global Guide to Animal Protection''. University of Illinois Press (forthcoming).
Animal Friendly Cultural Heritage and royal decrees in the legal history of Sri Lanka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Animal rights advocates, list of
Animal rights-related lists
Lists of activists
Lists of people by ideology