All Animals Are Equal by Peter Singer - Book Report/Review Example

All animals are equal One of the strongest pleas for the rights and liberation of animals, following the success of various liberation movements of humanity, has been Peter Singer's "All Animals Are Equal", an important article dealing with the need for the liberation of all animals. According to the author, the liberation movement should expand our moral horizons and open up a reinterpretation of the basic moral principle of equality. The author attempts to maintain that equal rights to animals cannot be denied on the basis of the argument that humans and nonhumans are different and should not have equal rights.

To Peter Singer, equality of consideration is the basic principle of equality, and equal consideration for different beings may lead to different treatment and different rights. "It is an implication of this principle of equality that our concern for others ought not to depend on what they are like, or what abilities they possess-although precisely what this concern requires us to do may vary according to the characteristics of those affected by what we do. It is on this basis that the case against racism and the case against sexism must both ultimately rest; and it is in accordance with this principle that speciesism is also to be condemned." (Singer) The author maintains that if possessing a higher degree of intelligence does not entitle one human to use another for his own ends, it also does not entitle humans to exploit nonhumans.

Singer hopes for a day when the rest of the animal creation acquires the basic rights of life and security, just as the human beings acquire their rights and liberation on the basis of race, sex, etc. "The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may one day come to be recognized that the number of the legs, the villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum, are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same fate." (Singer) In short, "All Animals Are Equal" is a persuasive appeal for the liberation of animals in the face of today's miseries, and this article has influenced many to argue for the rights of animals.

Work Cited Singer, Peter. "All Animals Are Equal." Animal Rights and Human Obligations. Tom Regan and Peter Singer. (eds.) New Jersey. 1989. Pp 148-162. Feb 25. 2010. .