Abstract
In this paper I defend a theory of welfare rights for nonhuman animals. I do this by demonstrating that a well-established framework for protecting the interests of farm animals, the ‘Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare’, is already functioning just as a set of rights. To support this claim I adopt a common approach to detecting evidence for deontological reasoning and look at the structural features of rights. I first consider Hohfeld’s system of legal rights and consider whether the Five Freedoms may be understood as liberties or claim rights, before making a more successful comparison with side constraints and an interest theory of rights as understood by Nozick and Raz. I also respond to a likely objection that it is not possible to have some welfare rights without a right to freedom from exploitation. The argument therefore contributes to breaking down the stubborn division between ‘animal welfare’ and ‘animal rights’.
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The author is grateful to Neil Levy, Felix Gedye, Alasdair Cochrane, Tatjana Višak and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.
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McCausland, C. The Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare are Rights. J Agric Environ Ethics 27, 649–662 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-013-9483-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-013-9483-6