Humans & other animals

Historical views

Aristotle (384-322 BC), the ancient Greek philosopher	St Augustine of Canterbury (CE 597-604), an early Christian writer and thinker	Rene Descartes (1596-1650), French philosopher	Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804)	Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

 Click on a painting to find out the writer's opinion.

Thus by the 19th century people in Europe’s views about how we should treat animals were changing. Bentham believed that in a humane society animals should be protected,  they can feel pleasure and pain, so their happiness is morally relevant. This idea forms the basis of all modern animal legislation.

Some people’s views were again shifted by the ideas of the contemporary Australian philosopher Peter Singer (born in 1946). Singer argues that the capacity for suffering is the vital characteristic that entitles a being to equal consideration. If we define suffering as the susceptibility to pain, awareness of being in pain, or about to be in pain, there seems little doubt that most vertebrates can suffer.

This raises the question of the extent to which the ability to sense contributes to consciousness, and thus begs the question of the extent to which consciousness is a purely human characteristic. Emanuel Kant thought that personhood this was the defining charactersitic of humanity, and Singer believes that the distinction of personhood should be decided on the basis of whether or not a being is self-conscious.

Singer and another contemporary philosopher, the American Tom Regan (born 1938) have put forward the idea of animal rights. The basic belief of the animal rights movement is that animals have the RIGHT to be free from human cruelty and exploitation, just as humans possess this right. Nonhuman animals deserve to live according to their own natures, free from harm, abuse, and exploitation.

 Animals in research

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