What moral considerations do humans owe animals?

You may or may not think that animals have rights. Yet even those who discount the more extreme positions on animal rights may still conclude that animals have some moral worth that we humans are bound to respect. It’s not necessarily the case that animals must get either full parity with human beings—or be the moral equivalent of paperclips. Middle statuses are possible, and these may propose relatively stringent rules or relatively weak ones. With that in mind, we ask, either with or without a rights-based framework, how it is we should treat the nonhuman creatures around us.

Our lead essayist this month is Michael Huemer, a leading libertarian philosopher who has never shied away from controversial topics. He argues that animals’ suffering—and humans’ indifference to it—represent serious tests of conscience that most of us are failing.

Is he right? There are perhaps as many views on our focal question as there are philosophers who have devoted time to it. We’ve solicited a variety of different perspectives in reply; they will come from Professor Aeon J. Skoble of Brigewater State University, Prof. Shawn E. Klein of Arizona State University, and Prof. Andy Lamey of the University of California at San Diego. Comments are open through the month, and we also welcome letters to the editor, particularly from those with a background in ethics and other relevant fields.