In LOVE with Humanity

Hero #109: Tom Regan
Tom Regan was an American animal rights activist and philosopher who specialized in
animal rights theory. He was professor emeritus of philosophy at North Carolina State
University, where he taught from 1967 until his retirement in 2001. From 1985, he also
served with his wife as co-founder and co-president of the Culture and Animals Foundation,
a nonprofit organization ―committed to fostering the growth of intellectual and artistic
endeavors united by a positive concern for animals‖ … Regan was the author of numerous
books on the philosophy of animal rights, including the quite brilliant The Case for Animal
Rights (1983), one of a handful of studies that have profoundly and significantly influenced
the modern animal rights movement. In these, he argued that non-human animals are what
he called the ―subjects-of-a-life‖, just as humans are, and that if we want to ascribe value to
all human beings regardless of their ability to be rational agents, then to be consistent, we
must similarly ascribe it to sentient non-humans as well.
―To be 'for animals' is not to be 'against humanity.' To require others to treat
animals justly, as their rights require, is not to ask for anything more nor less in their
case than in the case of any human to whom just treatment is due. The animal rights
movement is a part of, not opposed to, the human rights movement … We as humans of
integrity must be prepared to look honestly at the answer when we ask ourselves: How
would we fare psychologically if our slaughterhouses all stood prominently in every town
square and their walls were all made of glass? … Being kind to animals is not enough.
Avoiding cruelty is not enough. Housing animals in more comfortable, larger cages is not
enough. Whether we exploit animals to eat, to wear, to entertain us, or to learn, the truth
of animal rights requires empty cages, not larger cages … It is not an act of kindness to
treat animals respectfully. It is an act of justice.‖ ~ via Tom Regan
126