EN EL BICENTENARIO DE DARWIN ¿DERECHOS DE LOS ANIMALES NO HUMANOS? LA BARRERA DE LA DIGNIDAD

Abstract

One of the alleged arguments against extending rights to non-human animals is that of dignity. According to its most frequent formulation, dignity —fundamental to the notion of rights— belongs exclusively to human beings. The expression ‘human dignity’ is here a redundancy. Similarly, non-human animals, lacking dignity, can have no rights. Based on two of Darwin’s arguments, I present reasons for maintaining that the notion of dignity is almost entirely rhetorical and redundant - despite its virtuous doctrinal tradition and general consensus. I question its exclusive attribution to human beings and go on to infer that there are no such deontological barriers that stop us being able to talk of non-human animal rights.