It is the nature of humans to see themselves as standing apart from other species and the rest of the natural world.
But that view is being challenged from two directions: awareness that human survival depends on a web of relationships with other species; and growing questions about the morality of exploiting other sentient beings for our own purposes.
I founded the Arcus Foundation to advance the idea that people can live in harmony with one another and the natural world. Within the context of that broader aspiration, Arcus’ global focus is on LGBT equality and conservation of the world’s great apes. We envision a world where social and environmental justice are a reality, and where humans and non-human animals are able to thrive, living life on their own terms.
Arcus was proud to partner with Cambridge University Press in creating and publishing “The Politics of Species,” the book that is the basis for this website. Here you can find essays and interviews with the leading thinkers and activists on animal rights – researchers at the cutting edge of animal intelligence and psychology, the lawyer who is mounting a serious challenge to the idea that animals cannot possess legal rights, philosophers questioning the intellectual basis for human exceptionalism, and many others.
The ideas explored in “The Politics of Species” and the interviews here are provocative and exciting. I invite you to engage with them in the discussion forums and contribute to this dialogue on one of the defining moral challenges of our time.
Jon Stryker
President and Foundation, The Arcus Foundation
The Road to Respectful Coexistence
We are, ultimately, a part of nature, no matter how insulated by civilization. In an ecosystem, no one species is more important than any other. For our own sake, as well as, we must make our peace with the environment.
Read MoreCarnal Desires
Surely the first right any animal would claim for itself, if it could, is the right not to be eaten. But a growing global middle class is creating a demand for more meat, and conditions in factory farms remain deplorable. The moral choices we face in the supermarket are becoming more complex.
Read MoreAn Animal Bill of Rights?
Intelligence exists in many forms and in diverse species, such as crows, parrots and octopuses, which should make one think twice about how they are treated. But many people now think “intelligence” shouldn’t matter in how an animal is treated. You don’t have to be all that smart to feel pain and fear death.
Read MoreTurning a Whale into a Killer
In the wild, whales and dolphins form lasting bonds of kinship, even friendship. The animals in marine theme parks are taken from their families as juveniles, confined to tanks with strangers and forced to perform for an audience. Out of frustration, they may turn aggressive – in some cases, driven to attack and even kill their trainers.
Read MoreApeism and Racism
The great apes are humans’ closest animal relatives. A ground-breaking lawsuit in New York State seeks to give chimpanzees “personhood,” so their interests – for instance, not to be held in captivity – can be protected in court.
Read MoreWhat is a Person?
For most of human history, slavery and even genocide directed against other ethnic groups was the norm. Now it is universally condemned. Will we someday look back on our treatment of animals the same way?
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