Personhood Archives - Page 8 of 10

Jan 30 2015 | karol orzechowski

Autonomy in Chimpanzees

In this article, researchers make a strong case for chimpanzee autonomy. Spending most of the piece outlining a definition of autonomy itself, the authors prove that chimpanzees satisfy the basic definition and all of its essential conditions. Citing a variety of already-published research on chimp psychology, they show that acknowledging chimp autonomy is more or less a foregone conclusion if one were to view it from a non-speciesist perspective. The evidence has already been established, and can be easily combined to support the proposal of autonomy. READ MORE

Dec 30 2014 | karol orzechowski

Should Protections for Research With Humans Who Cannot Consent Apply to Research With Nonhuman Primates?

This paper considers how and why current protections for research with humans who cannot consent (such as children and those with severe dementia) can apply to nonhuman primates. Navigating the slippery and often contentious questions around moral significance of nonhuman animals, the author gives compelling examples of research projects where using nonhuman primates would be clearly unacceptable. These are then used as a baseline for determining a general principle that "individuals who are unable to consent should be enrolled in nonbeneficial research only when, at the very least, there is sufficient reason to believe that the potential benefits of the research justify the risks it poses." Though the author does not make claims around what might constitute justifiable benefits, he does offer interesting possibilities for how nonhuman primates can assent / dissent from particular research, even if they cannot officially "consent." READ MORE

Dec 12 2014 | karol orzechowski

Denial Of Death And The Relationship Between Humans And Other Animals

This paper describes a (sub)conscious human desire to remain separate from animals and not confront our own mortality. READ MORE

Dec 5 2014 | karol orzechowski

Charter Protection for the Great Apes: A Litigation Strategy for Animal Welfare and Animal Rights Activism in Canada

In a paper published on the Social Science Research Network, David Frank Shultz analyzes the possibility of extending legal protection to non-human great apes (orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos) so that they fall within the category of ‘people' under Canadian law. Considering the issue from several different perspectives – animal rights activism, a scientific and philosophical viewpoint, and a legal perspective – Schultz believes that there is sufficient legal room for a plausible claim for great apes to be included within this group. As the law on this point is currently indeterminate, the paper gives animal rights advocates valuable material for litigation of this issue to potentially enact significant social change. READ MORE

Nov 28 2014 | karol orzechowski

Lessons Learned: Challenges in Applying Current Constraints on Research on Chimpanzees to Other Animals

In 2011, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on the Necessity of the Use of Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research, was charged with determining the scientific necessity of the chimpanzee as a human model for biomedical and behavioral research. In his article, committee chair Jeffrey Kahn states that despite this charge, the issue of necessity simply could not be completely separated from ethics. Ethical considerations informed all of the central recommendations of the committee, from their insistence that chimps be housed in “ethologically appropriate environments” to their acknowledgement that chimps have the cognitive capacity to express their willingness (and unwillingness) to submit to research procedures. READ MORE