Animal Rights and Human Obligations

Citation

Regan, T., & Singer, P. (Eds.). (1989). Animal Rights and Human Obligations (2nd ed.). Prentice-Hall. First edition 1976.

Chapter Summary

Context and Argument

This is an anthology, not a monograph. The publisher describes it as a collection of historical, theoretical and applied articles on the ethical considerations in the treatment of animals by human beings. The editors are Tom Regan, associated with a rights-based position on animals, and Peter Singer, associated with a utilitarian one, and the book gathers writings from different positions rather than presenting a single thesis. The first edition appeared in 1976; the second, revised edition (1989), whose nine-part contents are summarised below, is the edition identified by ISBN 978-0-13-036864-5.

The volume has nine parts. They move from history and the philosophy of human and animal nature, through the questions of moral status and rights, to three applied areas: farming, science and wildlife.

Animals in the History of Western Thought

The opening part places the discussion in its history, setting out how animals have figured in Western thought, as the background against which later arguments about their treatment are made.

The Nature of Humans and Other Animals

This part turns from history to the comparison of humans with other animals, the question on which claims of human superiority and of animal moral standing both depend.

Equal Consideration for Other Animals

Here the book takes up the principle that the interests of animals deserve the same consideration as comparable interests of humans, an argument most closely associated with Singer's utilitarian approach.

Animal Rights

The part on rights asks whether animals can have rights and what these would be, the area associated with Regan's position.

Killing and the Value of Life

The next part concerns the morality of killing animals and what makes a life valuable, a question that separates positions focused on suffering from those focused on rights or the loss of life.

The Treatment of Farm Animals

The first applied part takes farming, applying the theoretical positions to the keeping and slaughter of animals for food.

The Treatment of Animals in Science

The second applied part deals with experimentation and other uses of animals in research.

The Treatment of Wildlife

The third applied part treats wild animals, where questions of killing, hunting and conservation arise.

Epilogue

A closing part rounds off the collection.

Key Concepts

Theory

• Moral status of animals: whether and why animals count morally, tested against traditional views of human and animal nature.
• Equal consideration: giving comparable interests equal weight whatever the species, the principle that gives its title to one part.
• Animal rights: the claim that animals hold rights that cannot be overridden for the sake of aggregate benefit.
• The value of life: whether killing wrongs an animal beyond the pain it may cause.

Application

• Farming, science and wildlife: the three areas where the book tests its theories.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Several positions in one volume. The collection reflects the editors' two distinct approaches, utilitarian and rights-based, and lets readers compare them on the same topics.
• Theory joined to practice. The three applied parts on farming, science and wildlife follow the theoretical parts, so the debates are tied to concrete cases.
• A founding text. As a collection first published in 1976, it records the early formation of academic animal ethics.

Limitations

• Dated. The second edition is from 1989, so it cannot reflect developments in animal law, welfare policy, science and philosophy since then.
• Different voices, uneven reading. An anthology of articles by different authors varies in difficulty and requires readers to assemble the argument themselves.
• Two editions in circulation. The first (1976) and second (1989) editions differ in contents, so students should use the edition their course assigns and check its list of readings.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the jurisprudence course this is the anthology on the moral status of animals. Regan's The Case for Animal Rights is the full statement of the rights position and Defending Animal Rights responds to critics, so both go deeper into the editor's own argument; the anthology is broader, putting that argument next to others. The remaining books treat the nature of law (Simmonds, Wacks, Fuller) and its relation to religion (An-Na'im), and Lacey's biography follows Hart.

Read it before Regan's monographs to meet the range of positions, or after them to see the debate behind his reasoning. Pairing it with a jurisprudence text such as Simmonds's Central Issues in Jurisprudence is useful for the concept of rights, since the question of whether animals can hold rights depends on what a right is.

How to Use This Book

The book is for advanced undergraduates and graduates in philosophy, law or related fields who want primary readings on animal ethics. No special background is required, but experience reading philosophical argument helps.

A plan: begin with the parts on equal consideration and on animal rights, which carry the two main positions; read the history and nature parts for context; then pick the applied part that matches your interest (farming, science, wildlife). Read the killing and value of life part alongside both positions. For each reading, state the conclusion, the premises and the objection it most needs to answer. When writing about the book, name the specific reading you are discussing and its author rather than attributing views to the volume as a whole, since the contributors disagree. A short comparison of the equal-consideration and animal-rights parts, applied to one case from the farming or science parts, makes a good exercise and shows how far the two approaches agree in practice and where they part.