Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

This volume provides a general overview of the basic ethical and philosophical issues of animal rights. It asks questions such as: Do animals have moral rights? If so, what does this mean? What sorts of mental lives do animals have, and how should we understand welfare? By presenting models for understanding animals' moral status and rights, and examining their mental lives and welfare, David DeGrazia explores the implications for how we should treat animals in connection with our diet, zoos, and research. Animal Rights distinguishes itself by combining intellectual rigor with accessibility, offering a distinct moral voice with a non-polemical tone.

David DeGrazia is Associate Professor of Philosophy at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Taking Animals Seriously: Mental Life and Moral Status (1996) and of numerous articles in philosophy and ethics journals He is also co-editor, with Thomas Mappes, of Biomedical Ethics (2001). Currently he is researching various topics at the intersection of personal identity theory and bioethics.