Animal Rights

Historical Perspectives

Despite many people's assumptions that it is a modern idea, the concern for the rights and interests of animals goes back to ancient times. Greek philosophers, such as Pythagoras, argued more than 2,500 years ago that we should not harm animals because they could be the souls of dead relatives who have reincarnated as animals. Pythagoras and his followers counseled against eating animal flesh on these grounds as well. Pythagoreans thus became some of the earliest known vegetarians, and the term Pythagorean continued to refer to vegetarians until the 19th century.

Although Pythogoras's belief in reincarnation fell out of favor in the West, the view that animals' interests deserved protection persisted. Many influential thinkers—Percy Shelley, Voltaire, Jeremy Bentham, Gandhi, and Tolstoy, to name just a few—advocated that animals are entitled to much better treatment; some of these thinkers proposed that animals had rights, including the right not to be eaten by humans.

Western thinkers were not alone in articulating the view that humans have obligations toward nonhuman animals. In 1000 BCE, the Hindu Upanishads also claimed that people can be reincarnated as animals, a view that led some Hindus to oppose meat eating. Likewise, some Buddhist traditions have counseled against killing animals for meat, advocating instead compassion toward animals. Also in India, since ancient times, Jains have thought that animals possess souls, and because all souls are divine, one should not harm animals in any way. Due to their nonhierarchical, antiviolence beliefs, Jains have refrained from harming even the smallest of creatures. Jains continue to work toward minimizing all harm to animals, operating many animal shelters in India and abstaining from the consumption of meat and eggs.

Historical Opposition to Animal Protection

Among the most influential thinkers who argued that humans do not have any obligations to animals were Aristotle and René Descartes. Aristotle believed that a natural hierarchy of living beings exists: Animals were naturally inferior to humans, and their function was to serve humans' needs. Whereas Aristotle based his arguments in nature, the Enlightenment thinker René Descartes [Page 67]compared animals to automatons or machines, without sensate experiences such as pain and without consciousness. Variations of the arguments made by Aristotle and Descartes continue to be seen in current attitudes toward animals and inform many opponents of animal rights.

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