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The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond Humanity
A compelling and revolutionary work that calls for the immediate extension of our human rights to the great apes.
The Great Ape Project looks forward to a new stage in the development of the community of equals, whereby the great apes-chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans-will actually receive many of the same protections and rights that are already accorded to humans.
This profound collection of thirty-one essays by the world's most distinguished observers of free-living apes make up a uniquely satisfying whole, blending observation and interpretation in a highly persuasive case for a complete reassessment of the moral status of our closest kin.
The Great Ape Project looks forward to a new stage in the development of the community of equals, whereby the great apes-chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans-will actually receive many of the same protections and rights that are already accorded to humans.
This profound collection of thirty-one essays by the world's most distinguished observers of free-living apes make up a uniquely satisfying whole, blending observation and interpretation in a highly persuasive case for a complete reassessment of the moral status of our closest kin.
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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February 2, 2025
A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS ADVOCATING EXTENDING TO GREAT APES MORAL ‘EQUALITY’
Coeditors Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer wrote in the Preface to this 1993 book, “We are human, and we are also great apes. Our membership of the human species gives us a precious moral status: inclusion within the sphere of moral equality. Those within this sphere we regard as entitled to special moral protection. There are things that we may not do to them. They have basic rights that are denied to those outside this sphere. This book urges that in drawing the boundary of this sphere of moral equality, we should focus not on the fact that we are human beings, but rather on the fact that we are intelligent beings with a rich and varied social and emotional life. These are qualities that we share not only with our fellow humans, but also with our fellow great apes. Therefore, we should make membership of this larger group sufficient entitlement to inclusion within the sphere of moral equality.
“We seek an extension of equality that will embrace not only our own species, but also the species that are our closest relatives and that most resemble us in their capacities and their ways of living… As the essays in this book demonstrate, we now have sufficient information about the capacities of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans to make it clear that the moral boundary we draw between us and them is indefensible. Hence the time is ripe for extending full moral equality to members of other species, and the case for so doing is overwhelming…
“The essays are written from a variety of perspectives---including anthropology, psychology, ethology and ethics---but together they form a single, challenging picture. Visions of the apes living free in their native forests contrast with descriptions of the miserable lives that many great apes are now forced to live under human tyranny, whether in zoos, laboratories, or other captive conditions… This points towards the goal of this entire enterprise: a reassessment of the moral status of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans and the acceptance of some nonhuman animals as persons… The core of this book is an encounter between ethology and ethics… In the present volume… ethics subsumes ethology and from this emerges a highly innovative social project… we see this project as part of a process in which we restore ethics to its proper place in determining the shape of the society in which we live.”
They begin with ‘A Declaration on Great Apes,’ which contains statements such as: “We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans… we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law. Among these principles or rights are the following: 1. The Right to Life… 2. The Protection of Individual Liberty: Members of the community of equals are not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty; if they should be imprisoned without due process, they have the right to immediate release… 3. The Prohibition of Torture: The deliberate infliction of severe pain on a member of the community of equals, either wantonly or for an alleged benefit to others, is regarded as torture, and is wrong.” (Pg. 4)
The Declaration continues, “The Great Ape Project aims at taking just one step in this process of extending the community of equals. We shall provide ethical argument, based on scientific evidence about the capacities of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, for taking this step. Whether this step should be the first of many others is not for the Great Ape Project to say. No doubt some of us, speaking individually, would want to extend the community of equals to many other animals as well; others may consider that extending the community to include all great apes is as far as we should go at present. We leave the consideration of that question for another occasion.” (Pg. 5)
In her essay, Jane Goodall states, “Gradually… evidence for sophisticated mental performances in the apes has become ever more convincing. There is proof that they can solve simple problems through process of reasoning and insight. They can plan for the immediate future. The language acquisition experiments have demonstrated that they have powers of generalization, abstraction and concept-forming along with the ability to understand and use abstract symbols in communication. And they clearly have some kind of self-concept.” (Pg. 13-14) Later, she adds, “we cannot, of course, prove that chimpanzees have souls. The fact that we cannot prove that WE have souls, or that chimps do not, is, apparently, beside the point.” (Pg. 16)
Francine Patterson and Wendy Gordon clarify about language experiments with gorillas such as Koko, “The meaning of the gorillas’ signs are not necessarily identical to the most common meanings, and in some cases they are entirely different. To interpret the gorillas’ conversations correctly, one must discover clues.” (Pg. 63)
Richard Dawkins asserts, “I have argued that the discontinuous gap between humans and ‘apes’ that we erect in our minds is regrettable… it must be conceded that this book’s proposal to admit great apes to the charmed circle of human privilege stands square in the discontinuous tradition. Albeit the gap has moved, the fundamental question still ‘Which side of the gap?’ Regrettable as this is, as long as our social mores are governed by discontinuously minded lawyers and theologians, it is premature to advocate a quantitative, continuously distributed morality. Accordingly, I support the proposal for which this book stands.” (Pg. 87)
Jared Diamond suggests, “If our ethical code makes a purely arbitrary distinction between humans and other species, then we have a code based on naked selfishness devoid of any higher principle. If our code instead makes distinctions based on our superior intelligence, social relationships and capacity for feeling pain, then it becomes difficult to defend an all-or-nothing code [which] draws a distinction between all humans and all animals.” (Pg. 100)
Raymond Corbey argues that the great apes are ‘a bridgehead into the realm of nonhuman animals, which helps us to overcome the traditional wide gap between humans and animals, and to extend, beyond the biological boundaries of our species, the moral community of which we consider ourselves part.” (Pg. 131)
Adrian Kortlandt acknowledges, “I am aware, of course, that living and sometimes non-anaesthetized subjects are needed in certain medical experimentation aiming to alleviate the suffering of humans… On the other hand, how can we justify such research with our innocent ape cousins, while doing so is not allowed even with those humans who are guilty of the most horrifying crimes against humanity?” (Pg. 142)
Hetta Hayry and Matti Hayry observe that “the Bible does not in fact give any unequivocal grounds for killing, imprisoning or torturing nonhuman animals, What Genesis claims is that human beings ought to be the rulers of Creation, not that they should use other animals as a means for their own ends… the Declaration cannot be attacked by appeals to God’s will.” (Pg. 179)
Bernard Rollin notes, “it appears that society is actually willing to give up certain animal uses and conveniences for the sake of the animals: the abandonment of the Canadian seal hunt, the massive social rejection of furs, the rejection of cosmetic testing on animals by many companies, all without legislation, attest to the growing hold of the new ethic…” (Pg. 211)
Gary Francione states, “although experimentation involving a human being requires the person’s informed consent… animal experiments (in the United States) may be performed on any animal for any purpose that is approved by a committee of other animal experimenters… Moreover, there is no need… to demonstrate that the experiment will benefit the experimental subject. Once some being is placed on the other side of the species barrier, the law provides virtually no protection for that being, and humans may harm that being in ways that would be unthinkable if applied even to the most disadvantaged members of human society.” (Pg. 249)
Editors Cavalieri and Singer conclude, “we cannot ignore doubts about the practical feasibility of the project, and the concrete implications of admitting chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans into the community of equals. Quite novel problems are likely to arise, but they will not be insuperable, and as we overcome each one, we will reveal the spurious nature of the alleged obstacles to overcoming the boundaries between species. In fact, difficulties also occurred in situations involving [enslaved] humans, but this was no reason to abandon the overall plan of emancipation.” (Pg. 310)
This book will be of great interest to Animal Rights and Animal Welfare advocates, many Vegetarians and Vegans, as well as those interested in the Great Apes.
Coeditors Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer wrote in the Preface to this 1993 book, “We are human, and we are also great apes. Our membership of the human species gives us a precious moral status: inclusion within the sphere of moral equality. Those within this sphere we regard as entitled to special moral protection. There are things that we may not do to them. They have basic rights that are denied to those outside this sphere. This book urges that in drawing the boundary of this sphere of moral equality, we should focus not on the fact that we are human beings, but rather on the fact that we are intelligent beings with a rich and varied social and emotional life. These are qualities that we share not only with our fellow humans, but also with our fellow great apes. Therefore, we should make membership of this larger group sufficient entitlement to inclusion within the sphere of moral equality.
“We seek an extension of equality that will embrace not only our own species, but also the species that are our closest relatives and that most resemble us in their capacities and their ways of living… As the essays in this book demonstrate, we now have sufficient information about the capacities of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans to make it clear that the moral boundary we draw between us and them is indefensible. Hence the time is ripe for extending full moral equality to members of other species, and the case for so doing is overwhelming…
“The essays are written from a variety of perspectives---including anthropology, psychology, ethology and ethics---but together they form a single, challenging picture. Visions of the apes living free in their native forests contrast with descriptions of the miserable lives that many great apes are now forced to live under human tyranny, whether in zoos, laboratories, or other captive conditions… This points towards the goal of this entire enterprise: a reassessment of the moral status of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans and the acceptance of some nonhuman animals as persons… The core of this book is an encounter between ethology and ethics… In the present volume… ethics subsumes ethology and from this emerges a highly innovative social project… we see this project as part of a process in which we restore ethics to its proper place in determining the shape of the society in which we live.”
They begin with ‘A Declaration on Great Apes,’ which contains statements such as: “We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans… we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law. Among these principles or rights are the following: 1. The Right to Life… 2. The Protection of Individual Liberty: Members of the community of equals are not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty; if they should be imprisoned without due process, they have the right to immediate release… 3. The Prohibition of Torture: The deliberate infliction of severe pain on a member of the community of equals, either wantonly or for an alleged benefit to others, is regarded as torture, and is wrong.” (Pg. 4)
The Declaration continues, “The Great Ape Project aims at taking just one step in this process of extending the community of equals. We shall provide ethical argument, based on scientific evidence about the capacities of chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, for taking this step. Whether this step should be the first of many others is not for the Great Ape Project to say. No doubt some of us, speaking individually, would want to extend the community of equals to many other animals as well; others may consider that extending the community to include all great apes is as far as we should go at present. We leave the consideration of that question for another occasion.” (Pg. 5)
In her essay, Jane Goodall states, “Gradually… evidence for sophisticated mental performances in the apes has become ever more convincing. There is proof that they can solve simple problems through process of reasoning and insight. They can plan for the immediate future. The language acquisition experiments have demonstrated that they have powers of generalization, abstraction and concept-forming along with the ability to understand and use abstract symbols in communication. And they clearly have some kind of self-concept.” (Pg. 13-14) Later, she adds, “we cannot, of course, prove that chimpanzees have souls. The fact that we cannot prove that WE have souls, or that chimps do not, is, apparently, beside the point.” (Pg. 16)
Francine Patterson and Wendy Gordon clarify about language experiments with gorillas such as Koko, “The meaning of the gorillas’ signs are not necessarily identical to the most common meanings, and in some cases they are entirely different. To interpret the gorillas’ conversations correctly, one must discover clues.” (Pg. 63)
Richard Dawkins asserts, “I have argued that the discontinuous gap between humans and ‘apes’ that we erect in our minds is regrettable… it must be conceded that this book’s proposal to admit great apes to the charmed circle of human privilege stands square in the discontinuous tradition. Albeit the gap has moved, the fundamental question still ‘Which side of the gap?’ Regrettable as this is, as long as our social mores are governed by discontinuously minded lawyers and theologians, it is premature to advocate a quantitative, continuously distributed morality. Accordingly, I support the proposal for which this book stands.” (Pg. 87)
Jared Diamond suggests, “If our ethical code makes a purely arbitrary distinction between humans and other species, then we have a code based on naked selfishness devoid of any higher principle. If our code instead makes distinctions based on our superior intelligence, social relationships and capacity for feeling pain, then it becomes difficult to defend an all-or-nothing code [which] draws a distinction between all humans and all animals.” (Pg. 100)
Raymond Corbey argues that the great apes are ‘a bridgehead into the realm of nonhuman animals, which helps us to overcome the traditional wide gap between humans and animals, and to extend, beyond the biological boundaries of our species, the moral community of which we consider ourselves part.” (Pg. 131)
Adrian Kortlandt acknowledges, “I am aware, of course, that living and sometimes non-anaesthetized subjects are needed in certain medical experimentation aiming to alleviate the suffering of humans… On the other hand, how can we justify such research with our innocent ape cousins, while doing so is not allowed even with those humans who are guilty of the most horrifying crimes against humanity?” (Pg. 142)
Hetta Hayry and Matti Hayry observe that “the Bible does not in fact give any unequivocal grounds for killing, imprisoning or torturing nonhuman animals, What Genesis claims is that human beings ought to be the rulers of Creation, not that they should use other animals as a means for their own ends… the Declaration cannot be attacked by appeals to God’s will.” (Pg. 179)
Bernard Rollin notes, “it appears that society is actually willing to give up certain animal uses and conveniences for the sake of the animals: the abandonment of the Canadian seal hunt, the massive social rejection of furs, the rejection of cosmetic testing on animals by many companies, all without legislation, attest to the growing hold of the new ethic…” (Pg. 211)
Gary Francione states, “although experimentation involving a human being requires the person’s informed consent… animal experiments (in the United States) may be performed on any animal for any purpose that is approved by a committee of other animal experimenters… Moreover, there is no need… to demonstrate that the experiment will benefit the experimental subject. Once some being is placed on the other side of the species barrier, the law provides virtually no protection for that being, and humans may harm that being in ways that would be unthinkable if applied even to the most disadvantaged members of human society.” (Pg. 249)
Editors Cavalieri and Singer conclude, “we cannot ignore doubts about the practical feasibility of the project, and the concrete implications of admitting chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans into the community of equals. Quite novel problems are likely to arise, but they will not be insuperable, and as we overcome each one, we will reveal the spurious nature of the alleged obstacles to overcoming the boundaries between species. In fact, difficulties also occurred in situations involving [enslaved] humans, but this was no reason to abandon the overall plan of emancipation.” (Pg. 310)
This book will be of great interest to Animal Rights and Animal Welfare advocates, many Vegetarians and Vegans, as well as those interested in the Great Apes.
August 25, 2020
The contributors of this book make a compelling case for including the great apes into the 'community of equals.' A highly recommended read for those interested in removing the barriers of speciesism that have long harmed chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.
December 10, 2016
I've rated this anthology low not because I believe apes are not people (I actually believe most animals are 'people', depending on how one is looking at the issue), and not because I somehow want to deny animals legal protection wherever possible (I don't. I believe animals deserve much more legal protection if anything). My problem with the book, and indeed with any work associated with Peter Singer, is the 'either/or' fallacy that dogs his and his colleagues' ethical reasoning when it comes to who should receive a status of 'personhood' and protection of rights. Their whole premise is based on this fatal fallacy, and the arguments fall at the first hurdle because of this, including issues around sentience and 'self-awareness'. Peter Singer has been allowed far too much of a public and academic platform considering this fallacy, frankly. There always needs to be further discussion of these issues. Sadly Singer's tendency to hog the public and academic debate space prevents this happening.
Read
May 11, 2022"A compelling and revolutionary work that calls for the immediate extension of our human rights to the great apes.
"The Great Ape Project looks forward to a new stage in the development of the community of equals, whereby the great apes -- chimpanzees, gorillas, and orang-utans -- will actually receive many of the same protections and rights that are already accorded to humans.
"This profound collection of thirty-one essays by the world's most distinguished observers of free-living apes make up a uniquely satisfying whole, blending observation and interpretation in a highly persuasive case for a complete reassessment of the moral status of our closest kin."
~~back cover
I read the first four essays and realized I was bored. Assuming that the remaining essays are more of the same, I abandoned the book. If I didn't have 800+ more books TBR I might have stuck with this one, but under the circumstances ...
"The Great Ape Project looks forward to a new stage in the development of the community of equals, whereby the great apes -- chimpanzees, gorillas, and orang-utans -- will actually receive many of the same protections and rights that are already accorded to humans.
"This profound collection of thirty-one essays by the world's most distinguished observers of free-living apes make up a uniquely satisfying whole, blending observation and interpretation in a highly persuasive case for a complete reassessment of the moral status of our closest kin."
~~back cover
I read the first four essays and realized I was bored. Assuming that the remaining essays are more of the same, I abandoned the book. If I didn't have 800+ more books TBR I might have stuck with this one, but under the circumstances ...
September 22, 2024
I really enjoyed this book, particularly all the observations and perspective of non humans as persons and what exactly that means. The discussion of philosophy I found quite windy at times, and found confusing to follow, could be because I couldn’t get my head around it but enjoys the broad discussions around this, such as sentience.
March 28, 2018
Sammlung wissenschaftlicher Aufsätze zum Thema, unter verschiedenen Aspekten. Interessante, spannende, rührende Ergebnisse; inspirierend. Menschenrechte für die grossen Menschenaffen, the great ape project, Goldmann 1994
December 5, 2021
Intriguing.
February 8, 2013
This book Is a collection of articles by numerous authors discussing facets of the proposal to grant personhood rights to the great apes. The articles had been edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. The articles have been grouped under various subtopics, namely: encounters with free living apes, conversations with apes, similarity and difference, ethics, apes as persons, and reality.
All of the contributing authors argued in favor of the idea that apes should have personhood. Now I have to tell you that I debated with myself about even starting this book because the theme seemed unrealistic to me. The opposition to this idea by social conservatives and vested commercial interests would be enormous. Even if such laws were enacted, enforcement would be difficult. Yet, the topic of man's closest living relatives was important enough to me to persevere through the articles in this book. As one reads through the various articles, one learns that we humans are very close relatives to the great apes and to the chimpanzee in particular. One author even made a strong case that humans are merely a third species of chimpanzees. All three of the great ape species, namely: gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans, can learn sign language and communicate with humans in a simplistic manner. Those educated apes are even able to express their feelings.
All the while that I am reading these articles, I am wondering what is the central problem that these authors are trying to solve? One obvious problem is the misery caused by medical experimentation with apes. One of the articles elaborated on the problem where healthy chimpanzees were operated on or were intentionly given a disease, which made the animal miserable and needlessly handicapped. Animal rights organizations attempted to enact legislation to protect such laboratory animals, but were undermined by the beneficiaries of animal experimentation. These social animals are confined to cages and isolated from their roommates. Several authors also commented on problems with apes becoming zoo animals. My first impression was that zoos make it possible for young people to see these animals close up and why would anyone want to change that. However, I learned from this book that typically 10 apes are killed in order to get one ape to a zoo. The high price offered for these animals worldwide becomes an incentive for butchery in the African homeland for these apes. Moreover, many zoos treat the animals horribly and cause them to become depressed and even go insane.
Even before starting this book, I had become aware from other reading that the great apes are headed for extinction. Human beings have relentlessly reduced the apes natural habitat and hunted and abused these poor animals in a shameless manner. Even without the human onslaught, apes were headed for extinction because their reproduction rate is inadequate to sustain them. Some of the authors wanted to return captured apes back into the wild. In my opinion, that would not begin to solve the problem because there really is no safe place for them to exist. After finishing the book, I still believed that none of the contributors was addressing this basic extinction problem.
Do I recommend that you read this book? For most people, I would give a qualified yes to that question. I personally have a dislike for books that have been contributed to by numerous different authors. Some of the articles were extremely valuable to me. Others were so dull or poorly written that I skimmed through them as fast as I could. There is a lot of repetition in an anthology dedicated to a single theme. Being aware of these qualifications, you can decide for yourself whether the topic is important enough to you to extract the gems, which do exist within this book.
Ralph D Hermansen, November 10, 2012
All of the contributing authors argued in favor of the idea that apes should have personhood. Now I have to tell you that I debated with myself about even starting this book because the theme seemed unrealistic to me. The opposition to this idea by social conservatives and vested commercial interests would be enormous. Even if such laws were enacted, enforcement would be difficult. Yet, the topic of man's closest living relatives was important enough to me to persevere through the articles in this book. As one reads through the various articles, one learns that we humans are very close relatives to the great apes and to the chimpanzee in particular. One author even made a strong case that humans are merely a third species of chimpanzees. All three of the great ape species, namely: gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans, can learn sign language and communicate with humans in a simplistic manner. Those educated apes are even able to express their feelings.
All the while that I am reading these articles, I am wondering what is the central problem that these authors are trying to solve? One obvious problem is the misery caused by medical experimentation with apes. One of the articles elaborated on the problem where healthy chimpanzees were operated on or were intentionly given a disease, which made the animal miserable and needlessly handicapped. Animal rights organizations attempted to enact legislation to protect such laboratory animals, but were undermined by the beneficiaries of animal experimentation. These social animals are confined to cages and isolated from their roommates. Several authors also commented on problems with apes becoming zoo animals. My first impression was that zoos make it possible for young people to see these animals close up and why would anyone want to change that. However, I learned from this book that typically 10 apes are killed in order to get one ape to a zoo. The high price offered for these animals worldwide becomes an incentive for butchery in the African homeland for these apes. Moreover, many zoos treat the animals horribly and cause them to become depressed and even go insane.
Even before starting this book, I had become aware from other reading that the great apes are headed for extinction. Human beings have relentlessly reduced the apes natural habitat and hunted and abused these poor animals in a shameless manner. Even without the human onslaught, apes were headed for extinction because their reproduction rate is inadequate to sustain them. Some of the authors wanted to return captured apes back into the wild. In my opinion, that would not begin to solve the problem because there really is no safe place for them to exist. After finishing the book, I still believed that none of the contributors was addressing this basic extinction problem.
Do I recommend that you read this book? For most people, I would give a qualified yes to that question. I personally have a dislike for books that have been contributed to by numerous different authors. Some of the articles were extremely valuable to me. Others were so dull or poorly written that I skimmed through them as fast as I could. There is a lot of repetition in an anthology dedicated to a single theme. Being aware of these qualifications, you can decide for yourself whether the topic is important enough to you to extract the gems, which do exist within this book.
Ralph D Hermansen, November 10, 2012
May 24, 2012
This thought-provoking book posits that the Great Apes should be given certain rights (The Right to Life, Protection of Individual Liberty, and Prohibition of Torture) in a manner akin to the Declaration of Human Rights. (All contributors note that extending rights does not mean lowering human rights. They also note that just because the enforcement of human rights has not been achieved globally, it does not mean that this project should not be pursued. History shows that such things sadly come in increments. To wait for the time we start acting decently to our own species would mean that there will not be any Great Apes left as they are being wiped out so quickly.) The book looks at the Great Ape Project from anthropological, genetic, moral philosophical, legal, and other perspectives. While some of the essays veer toward extension of these rights to other animals that may not be as sentient as our genetic cousins, most of the contributors feel that the Great Apes are the dividing line and serve as a bridge between our species and the rest of the animal world. (The book notes that that division is one that is based on rather antiquated philosophical thinking that was put together in time when sub-Saharan Africans and the various peoples of the Americas were not considered human and were lumped with animals. It also notes that much of the thinking that guides the actions of the first world was put together by Europeans (especially Descartes, with his belief that all non-humans were unfeeling machines) and Americans who had never had real contact with the Great Apes and only knew of them from myth.) Overall the book is very convincing, and probably would be even more so today due to the ten of years of Great Ape research that has occurred since the publication date, though an exact formula for protection of homelands that does not smack of neo-imperialism is lacking.
As the book tackles comparisons between the current plight of the Great Apes and the current situations with minors, the severely mentally handicapped, and imprisoned mental patients as well as looking at historic situations such as classical and New World Slavery and the rights of indigenous peoples, the book is a natural for anyone interested philosophy and science.
As the book tackles comparisons between the current plight of the Great Apes and the current situations with minors, the severely mentally handicapped, and imprisoned mental patients as well as looking at historic situations such as classical and New World Slavery and the rights of indigenous peoples, the book is a natural for anyone interested philosophy and science.
April 4, 2013
incluye contribuciones de 34 autores reconocidos (incluyendo a Jane Goodall y Richard Dawkins) que enviaron artículos manifestando su apoyo al proyecto. Los autores argumentan que los seres humanos son animales inteligentes con una vida social, emocional y cognitiva variada. Si los grandes simios también muestran estos atributos, se merecen la misma consideración que los humanos aplican a los miembros de su propia especie, de acuerdo con los autores.
El libro resalta los descubrimientos que apoyan la capacidad de los grandes simios de poseer racionalidad y autoconsciencia, y la capacidad de tener consciencia de ellos mismos como entidades distintas con un pasado y un futuro. Las conversaciones documentadas (vía lenguaje de signos) con simios son la base de estos descubrimientos. Otros temas abordados por el libro incluyen la división situada entre los humanos y los grandes simios, las especies como personas, el progreso en la adquisición de derechos para los retrasados mentales severos (antes una minoría ignorada) y la situación de los simios en el mundo actual.
El libro resalta los descubrimientos que apoyan la capacidad de los grandes simios de poseer racionalidad y autoconsciencia, y la capacidad de tener consciencia de ellos mismos como entidades distintas con un pasado y un futuro. Las conversaciones documentadas (vía lenguaje de signos) con simios son la base de estos descubrimientos. Otros temas abordados por el libro incluyen la división situada entre los humanos y los grandes simios, las especies como personas, el progreso en la adquisición de derechos para los retrasados mentales severos (antes una minoría ignorada) y la situación de los simios en el mundo actual.
July 30, 2008
After the Spanish Parliament passed a law this June extending legal rights to non-human great apes, I decided read more about the rationale behind the decision. Essentially, Spain signed onto The Great Ape Project, an international movement for including all great apes (humans, gorillas, orang-utans, and chimpanzees)in the community of moral equals. The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond Humanity is edited by the founders of the project and contains contributions from ethologists, philosophers, activists and more in support of the Declaration on Great Apes. The essays were fascinating and informative, though somewhat repetitive. I especially enjoyed the essays that dealt with research into ape intelligence, consciousness, and language. Overall the various authors make a compelling case for why all great apes should be seen as rights-bearing individuals to be protected from murder, imprisonment, and torture.
June 7, 2013
This book challenges our basic assumptions about personhood and what separates human from animal, and as a result many will be turned off by it. That's a shame because there are some truly moving and astonishing stories in this book, and it makes a strong case for basic rights for apes.
November 5, 2007
Articles and essays by the most famous and most renowned scientists in the primate behavior field. Great starting off point before reading the more complete works of the contributors.
January 13, 2008
The first time I read it I was working on my B.A. I remember sitting in the food court having lunch - lunch lasted many hours that day. It also contained many shed tears.
July 29, 2008
Thought-provoking and educational.
Read
July 28, 2011Some really great essays... and a few not so great. All in all, an interesting and thought provoking read
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews