December 9, 2013

Should Non-Humans Have Rights?

A lawsuit is demanding certain rights for a 26-year-old chimpanzee named Tommy on the basis that personhood derives from cognitive and emotional qualities that chimpanzees, like humans, possess in abundance.

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A lawsuit is demanding rights for a 26-year-old chimpanzee named Tommy on the basis that personhood derives from cognitive and emotional qualities that chimpanzees, like humans, possess in abundance.

So what rights should Tommy and other chimpanzees like him possess? The lawsuit is not arguing for certain human rights like the right to vote. Instead, the suit is arguing for the more basic right that chimpanzees cannot be “owned and imprisoned against their will.”

What do you think?

Read more here.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

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