Normally, I would post this in Human Exceptionalism. But I thought it worthwhile to post more generally.
A concerted move is afoot to have animals declared “persons,” entitled to rights. Here’s some information on an upcoming conference at Yale toward attaining that end:
A conference on “Personhood Beyond the Human” will be held at Yale University, April 19-21, 2013. The event will focus on personhood for nonhuman animals, including great apes, cetaceans, and elephants, and will explore the evolving notions of personhood by analyzing them through the frameworks of neuroscience, behavioral science, philosophy, ethics, and law.
The conference will be co-sponsored by the Nonhuman Rights Project and the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies in collaboration with the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics.
So much that is wrong comes out of our elite universities these days. Too few pay attention.