Book Review:
Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction

By David DeGrazia
Oxford University Press, 2002

Review by Steve Kane

Animal rights activists rejoice! The highly respected Oxford University Press has added to its international list of topics deserving "very short introductions": Animal Rights: A Very Short Introduction. David DeGrazia's lucid and absorbing primer on animal rights is one that can be read and digested by anyone with even the slightest interest in the moral and intellectual issues surrounding the increasingly prominent animal rights debate.

DeGrazia begins the book with a concise historical sketch of traditional sources of thought related to animals' moral status. He notes that modern scientists, who continue to act as if "some unbridgeable gulf" exists between humans and other species as far as morality is concerned, have barely absorbed Darwin's theories.

In the early chapters, DeGrazia sets up a framework for understanding animals' moral status, mental lives, and interests. While insisting that animals have "moral status" (i.e., moral importance independent of humans), he champions what he considers a moderate "moral rights" premise. Animals, DeGrazia believes, should be given "equal consideration," which he defines as giving "equal moral weight to humans' and animals' comparable interests." In later chapters, DeGrazia explores whether animals receive "equal consideration" in factory farms, in zoos, in homes as companion animals, and as unwilling participants in animal experiments. Here, we as readers are forced to reconsider another "unbridgeable gulf" between the way in which we ought to treat animals and the often-appalling reality of how we do treat them.

Each chapter begins with a poignant real-life animal/human relationship story illustrating such moral issues. The stories, moreover, set the parameters for the ethical/philosophical discussion to follow, which then come full-circle as DeGrazia winds up each chapter with a reconsideration of the opening narrative in light of the issues clarified in the ethical discussions. In chapter 6 on "Keeping Pets and Zoo Animals," for example, we meet Jenny, a golden retriever who lives in a comfortable home and receives regular veterinary care. Yet, she spends most of the day alone and bored, only getting outside twice daily for brief walks. With Jenny (and all confined animals) in mind, DeGrazia proposes two conditions for restricting an animal's liberty: 1) "The animal's basic physical and psychological needs must be met" and 2) "the animal must be provided with a life at least as good as she had in the wild." Jenny's caretakers have failed on the first count, and, as DeGrazia points out, her situation is not unusual. Readers are thus asked to rethink their own relationship with their companion animals and are offered sound advice enriching their lives.

While DeGrazia believes that captivity or confinement can and does cause harm to animals, he supposes these harms may be generally greater for humans. However, he is quick to say their impact on animals is equally significant as he writes that "animal suffering matters as much as human suffering."

Though he takes a stand on most issues, DeGrazia is careful to give voice to the less ardent animal welfare camp as well as those with stronger views than his own. He also addresses many of the perennial questions such as: Where does one draw the line for sentience? and How will giving moral rights to animals affect our national economy?

For friends and relatives just beginning to express an interest in the animal rights debate, DeGrazia's Very Short Introduction to Animal Rights presents an excellent overview.

David DeGrazia, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at George Washington University and is also the author of Taking Animals Seriously.

Steve Kane is a dedicated COK activist.

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