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Human: Biological Classification
Person: A being as opposed to a thing
both conscious, and aware that they are conscious
Criteria to define a "person":
- self-awareness
- agency
- culture
The ability to create a desire and then act on it
The ability to transmit learned behaviors and create shared values/traditions not immediately necessary for survival
Affirmed in:
- The Declaration of Independance
- The works of Plato, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Martin Heidegger, and every democratic constituion of the 21st century
Inalienable rights of personhood:
- life
- self-determination
- well being
- Genus of the animal kingdom including dolphins and whales
- Meet the aforementioned criteria of personhood
- Are not currently considered persons by any government except for India
Why is this important?
The designation of personhood carries with it rights and protections. Cetaceans don’t currently have these rights, which means that abuses against them can be carried out with impunity.
The right to life is violated by the extensive commercial whaling of nations like Japan and Norway.
The right to self-determination is violated by our practice of capturing cetaceans and using them for entertainment purposes in Sea World.
The right to well being is violated by both of these former practices and invasive scientific research conducted on cetaceans.
Its hard for people to empathize with this problem the same way they would when speaking about violations of human rights, because cetaceans don't look, act, or live like us.
Think of the practices we use on cetaceans and the human parallels:
- SeaWorld Dolphin Shows = Circus Freak Shows
- Invasive Research = Nazi Experiments at Dachau and Auschwitz
1. Collaboration not domination
2. Metric for determining the dignity of different groups cannot be based on their similarity to our own
Lewis, M. & Brooks-Gunn, J. Self-knowledge and emotional development. In M. Lewis & L. Rosenblum (Eds.), The development of affect: The genesis of behavior, 1 (pp. 205-226). New York: Plenum Press; 1978.
Lewis, M. (1990). Intention, consciousness, desires and development. Psychological Inquiry, 1, 278–283.
Reiss D, Marino L (2001) Self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98: 5937–5942.D. ReissL. Marino2001Self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A9859375942
Herman LM, Pack AA, Wood AM (1994) Bottlenosed dolphins can generalize rules and develop abstract concepts. Mar Mamm Sci 10: 70–80.LM HermanAA PackAM Wood1994Bottlenosed dolphins can generalize rules and develop abstract concepts.Mar Mamm Sci107080
Native American Propaganda: http://zapatopi.net/blog/sasquatch_last_cave_men_1934-07-29.small.png
Anti-Semetic Propaganda: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/3d/60/54/3d605400404f75c07ff112c0a7e09cce.jpg
Freak Show Poster: http://flashbak.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/midges.jpg
*all other images courtesy of Stock or Getty Images