Frans De Waal, a Dutch-American primatologist, researched the morality of animals using bonobos and chimpanzees. He discovered that animals have instincts to make morally right decisions (Jaroš, 2017). In times of trouble, animals fight for their fellow animals’ survival and freedom. He also found that all social animals have ways of cooperating and showing empathy. His research identified that human beings and primates are all apes, but on a different stage of evolution and civilization, with humans having superior thinking. Indeed, it is necessary to consider making ethical decisions on animals, for they deserve humane treatment.
Animals live in a social environment; thus, they have adopted moral codes for survival. Human beings should strive to guarantee animals their fundamental rights to foster better cooperation and enhance the lives of animals. According to MonsĂł et al. (2018), De Waal asserted that animals could not express emotion because they are limited; for instance, they could convey emotions if they could speak. Essentially, humans should ensure animals have their basic rights because both animals and humans are social animals and should live interdependently in mutually benefitting ways.
Animals’ basic rights are many, and they differ in nature, scope, and volume. Animals deserve good treatment in their social interaction with human beings. Indeed, humans are apes just as primates; the main difference is that humans have rationality (Monsó et al., 2018). According to Monsó & Wrage (2021), animals deserve rights that usually manifest through slight reactions such as touch. The rights include care, empathy, consolation, reconciliation, kindness, tolerance, and reciprocity. There is, however, a hierarchy in the prevalence of those rights; dogs, for example, should have more rights than mice.
References
Jaroš, F. (2017). Darwin, Dawkins, and de Waal-animals like persons or machines. Atheism and moral Progress, 143-168.
MonsĂł, S., Benz-Schwarzburg, J., & Bremhorst, A. (2018). Animal morality: What it means and why it matters.The Journal of Ethics, 22(3), 283-310. Web.
MonsĂł, S., & Wrage, B. (2021). Tactful animals: How the study of touch can inform the animal morality debate.Philosophical Psychology, 34(1), 1-27. Web.