Synthesis Essay On Animal Rights

In a recent edition of a local magazine, PETA, a group for the ethical treatment of animals, called its readers to live healthy lives, prevent climate change, and save animals by eating a plant-based diet. To support its argument, the magazine, Vegan Starter Kit, offered statistics that proved the health and environmental benefits of a Vegan diet. More significantly, the magazine argued that animals are more than objects and, thus, deserve fair treatment. The crucial element of this argument is whether or not animals have rights. If animals have dignity to that of humans, then the government would be obliged to recognize that animals, with such a dignity, have certain rights.
Most importantly, we must determine the nature of animals. Research has proven that animals like Gorillas and Chimpanzees are “thinking, selfware beings” (Source B). Even the most critical opponents of the animal rights movement accept that Chimps’ and Baboons’ capabilities to reason and exhibit emotion make them more than things (Source C). In fact, their thoughts, wants, and characters make them individuals (Source F). The individuality of

A crucial point in the argument against animal rights is that the individuality of humans is expressed in a stronger sense than the individuality expressed by animals. Opponents claim: a man’s ability to negotiate, compromise, and agree form the distinction that separates mankind from other species (Source F). However, man is not the only being to possess these skills. An online article covering trade in the communities of monkeys and apes, details how apes use grooming as a sort of currency. Basically, one ape grooms the hair of another ape, and, in return, he gets his hair groomed. If the moral distinction that separates humans from other species is based off an ability to negotiate and agree,and apes demonstrate the ability to both, then, the distinction between us and apes doesn't