Reply #71: "There are chimps who can ... testify in court." [View All]

[Ignis]

When we break down any system of inherent rights to study the "uniquely human" characteristics that afford us said rights, it's becoming increasingly difficult to defend the exceptionality of those human-only traits like context-sensitive language use, a sense of time, a complex emotional life, an understanding of morality, or even altruism.

The problem with this discussion topic is that you can count on someone to Quixotically attack the strawman: "Smart animals should NEVER have more rights than dumb humans." This argument, IMHO, quickly devolves into a purely anthropocentric (or "speciesist") one.

Philosophically, we need to work harder to define what makes us so uniquely human--while ensuring that the scientific data actually supports our hypothesis. ;)