Tom Regan
“To be ‘for animals’ is not to be ‘against humanity.’ To require others to treat animals justly, as their rights require, is not to ask for anything more nor less in their case than in the case of any human to whom just treatment is due. The animal rights movement is a part of, not opposed to, the human rights movement. Attempts to dismiss it as anti human are mere rhetoric.”
Tom Regan is an American philosopher who specializes in animal rights theory.
He is professor of philosophy at North Carolina State University, where he taught from 1967. Regan is the author of numerous books on the philosophy of animal rights, including The Case for Animal Rights, one of a handful of studies that have significantly influenced the modern animal rights movement. In these, he argues that non-human animals are what he calls the “subjects-of-a-life”, just as humans are, and that, if we want to ascribe value to all human beings regardless of their ability to be rational agents, then to be consistent, we must similarly ascribe it to non-humans.
Professor Regan is a vegan.