Nonhuman animal species have some legal protections, and there is controversy about extending these protections even further. Modern democratic societies recognize the equal rights of all of their citizens. They also recognize that all human beings have equal rights to fairness and justice, even though noncitizens do not share in privileges such as the right to vote. Widespread belief in the equality of all people is quite recent in human history and, while widespread, is far from universal. In most societies, nonhuman animal species also have some rights, though far fewer than do humans. These rights are generally accorded on the basis of the mental capacity, and the capacity for suffering, that a species possesses. For example, intelligent animals, such as chimpanzees, have a greater capacity for suffering than do dogs and cats, which far surpass mice, which far surpass insects. Laws govern the use of chimpanzees, dogs, and cats for medical research; people get into legal trouble not only for abusing but even for neglecting confined dogs and cats; nobody gets in trouble for stomping on bugs. In contrast, the mental capacity of a human being is not used as a basis for rights and privileges.

Some religions recognize animal rights; for example, Jainism, a sect of Hinduism, reveres all animal life so much that people must sweep the ground before them to avoid stepping on insects. However, the major western religions still accept a binary definition of rights: All humans have infinite and eternal value, while animals do not and will simply die. Although many western people do not recognize the existence of animal rights, they do have feelings of empathy toward animals. Many religious people are appalled by cruelty to animals, but mainly because cruelty to animals reflects a disturbing attitude within the minds of the perpetrators, rather than because they have zeal for the rights of the animals themselves.

The more humans learn about other animal species, the more they recognize that evolutionary relatedness is not a sufficient basis for animal rights. Whales and dolphins, for example, show very high intelligence but evolved separately from the mammalian ancestors they share with humans. The controversy over whether it is ever ethical for humans to kill whales was one of the more strident ethical conflicts of the 20th century. For the last 20,000 years, Homo sapiens has been the only human species in the world. However, when modern humans first evolved about 100,000 years ago and began to spread out of Africa, they were not alone. They met other species of humans in the Middle East and Europe (for example Neandertals) and perhaps even encountered other human species in southeast Asia (like Homo erectus). It is likely that the ancestors of modern humans showed these other human species no "humanity" but treated them as competitors who had no more rights than any other animal species. This is hardly surprising, for it is only very recently that the human species has shown kindness to members of a different race, religion, or culture. It is interesting to speculate what would happen in the modern age of ethical enlightenment if Neandertals or H. erectus still existed. . .

Free term papers are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can use our professional writing services to buy a custom written research paper, term paper, or essay on Politics at affordable price. CustomTermPapers is the best solution for those who seek help in writing term papers, essays, and research papers related to Politics and other relevant topics.