The Case for Animal Rights by Tom Reagan - Essay Example

Animal rights violators have argued that not all living things have equal rights and that humans are superior to the others. They state that human beings have the rights while the other living things, especially animals, have rights only in the right view of the human being responsible. Reagan accounts for the need to have animal rights on the following arguments and sets of theories. First, the violators base their argument on the contractions theory, where the human beings are said to have signed a voluntary contract to ensure rights on themselves and close persons.

The rights also cover what the human beings have sentimental value, and what interests them in the society only. Reagan argues that this does not adequately cover the rights of animals in the society from the actions of human beings. He states that in case the animal in question does not have any relevance or value to the human being, then he/she is not morally obligated to uphold or enforce the rights of the animal (Reagan, 1989). The second argument is considered as the cruelty-kindness theory that states that every human being has the duty to be kind to all the animals in the world, whether they have sentimental value or not; we also have an indirect duty not to be cruel to the animals in the world whatsoever. . The same theory also argues for the statement ‘the end justifies the means’; moreover, Reagan uses the rights view to contradict these statements by egalitarians, by stating that the end does not justify the means, in the upholding animal rights.

Reagan’s criticism is valid in light of clearly rational arguments and analysis on some other theories on animal rights. He seeks to bring balance between the animal’s rights and human rights in the world. The sense of belief that animals have no feelings and humans have no moral obligations towards them is clearly misplaced. There needs to be a balance between actions to animals and the results, in that animals are living things too and have emotions and rights that we need to uphold in society, if we are to be rational.