Abstract

Comments on a prior discussion of animal rights by Gordon G. Gallup, Jr. Gallup asserted that there are no inherent rights; they are inventions of the human mind. Thus, animals only have rights to the extent that we say they do. In this comment, Andrew N. Rowan posits that there is more universal agreement as to why some beings have certain rights than Gallup credits. However, even though philosophers have attempted to develop consistent arguments to underpin a "rights" theory, there are still many problems. Some of these problems are briefly touched upon here. 2012 APA, all rights reserved)