Tom Regan is a philosopher and animal rights activist. (Born 28 November 1938 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). He graduated from Thiel College in 1960. He received his master's (1962) and PhD (1966) degrees from the University of Virginia. He is currently a professor of Philosophy at North Carolina State University in the United States, where he has taught since 1967.

In The Case for Animal Rights Regan claims that many non-human animals are bearers of moral rights. Regan's philosophy is broadly in the tradition of Immanuel Kant, though he rejects Kant's idea that respect is due only to rational beings. Regan points out that we typically ascribe inherent value, and thus the right to be treated with respect, to those humans who are not rational, including infants and the severely mentally handicapped. The crucial attribute that all humans have in common is not rationality but the fact that each of us has a life that matters to him or her; in other words, what happens to us matters to us, regardless of whether it matters to anyone else. In Regan's terminology, we are each the experiencing "subject-of-a-life". If this is indeed the basis for ascribing inherent value to individuals, then, to be consistent, we must ascribe inherent value, and hence moral rights, to all who are subjects-of-a-life, whether human or non-human. The basic right that all who possess inherent value have, is the right never to be treated merely as means to the ends of others. Supporters note that Regan's argument for animal rights does not rely on inventing some radical new theory of ethics, but (at least in his view) follows from a consistent application of moral principles and insights that many of us already hold with respect to the ethical treatment of human beings. However, others criticise the lack of certainty with which Regan's "intrinsic value", or "subject-of-a-life" status can be determined, and note that the sufficient conditions he lists (for example, having sense-perceptions, beliefs, desires, motives, and memory) make the condition rougly measure "similarity to humans". Advocates of biocentrism , such as ethicist Paul Taylor , argue that all individual living beings possess "intrinsic value", limiting the rights that could possibly come along with this status unless such ubiquitious human activities as eating, horticulture and antisepsis are to be banned.

According to Regan, it follows from the ascription to animals of the basic right to be treated with respect that we should abolish the breeding of animals for food, animal experimentation, and commercial hunting. Hence, Regan has always been a committed vegan.

Works

• All That Dwell Therein: Essays on Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics (1982)
• Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science (1986)
• The Case for Animal Rights
• Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights

External Links

• The Culture and Animals Foundation
• Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights
• An American Philosopher: The Career of Tom Regan