More than twenty years after its original publication, The Case for Animal Rights is an acknowledged classic of moral philosophy, and its author Tom Regan is recognized as the intellectual leader of the animal rights movement. In a new and fully considered preface, Regan responds to his critics and defends the book's revolutionary position.
Tom Regan is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at North Carolina State University and is the author (with Carl Cohen) of The Animal Rights Debate and Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights.
"Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Bentham, Mill: all thought seriously about the role of animals in our lives. But not until Tom Regan published The Case for Animal Rights did the world possess a theory of the rights of animals. When philosophy students come to this issue hundreds of years from now, they will read the greats in light of the arguments presented here."—Gary L. Comstock, editor of Life Science Ethics
"Tom Regan's now classic Case For Animal Rights blends careful argument with intense moral concern. For two decades, where Regan has been taken seriously, animals have been better off and people have become better persons. This new edition is a welcome sign of this influence continuing."—Holmes Rolston, III, University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University
"A bold and nuanced analysis of the inherent value and moral standing of nonhuman animals. It may also be the most consistent and unyielding defense of animal rights."—Tom L. Beauchamp, Georgetown University
"The most powerful and plausible consideration of the issues and defense of animal rights yet to be produced (or likely to be)."—Richard Wasserstrom
"By far the best work on the subject, and will continue to be the definitive work for years to come . . . .[It is] destined to become a 'modern classic' in the field of ethics, alongside Rawls’s A Theory of Justice and Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia."—Alastair S. Gunn, coauthor of Hold Paramount
Praise for the first edition:
"Unquestionably the best work yet to appear in its field, surpassing even Peter Singer's famous Animal Liberation in originality, thoroughness, and rigor."—Choice
"The Case for Animal Rights is beyond question the most important philosophical contribution to animal rights and is a major work in moral philosophy."—Animal Law Review
"The most powerful and plausible consideration of the issues and defense of animal rights yet to be produced (or likely to be)."—Richard Wasserstrom, author of Philosophy and Social Issues (1980)
474 pp.5.5 x 8.25Illus: 1 b/w illustration
9780520243866$34.95|£30.00Paper
Sep 2004