Firstly: an apology to my followers for not posting in a while. I’ve been busy with work.

Recently I had a discussion with a friend saying I identify animals as persons.

My friend immediately became greatly confused and said he couldn’t participate in the discussion anymore [not out of disrespect but simply because I had apparently gone too far too early].

Which raises the question: are animals persons?

Well lets first agree you are either a thing or an individual. There’s not much room for in between. My cup of tea is a thing. My brother is an individual. My book is a thing. My boss is an individual. Plants are things. Is my cat an individual?

Frankly, from there I think we can agree animals are not thing.

But some may insist that whilst animals are not things, they’re hardly individuals.

We humans do tend to be anthropomorphic. There’s even a recent, hot debate on whether or not, when AI become widely available, if they would classify as persons.

However, lets rely on basic common sense. How many of you reading this have ever had a dog or a cat? Now, how many of you would be able to immediately distinguish your dog or cat from a group of dogs and cats that are physically similar? I’m willing to bet many of you agreed as such. Dogs and cats, regardless of physical features have distinct personalities, much like human beings. As do farm animals. Being friend with a person who runs a farm sanctuary, he could easily tell me the cows and chickens apart without their physical features.

We can agree most animals have personalities. Some dogs are lazy, some are excitable, some are aggressive. Some cats are spry, some are noisy, mine is old and tired.

So, agreeing that animals have personalities and minds [I hardly have to argue the latter. few deny animal intelligence in this day and age] would it really be a huge step to say they are nonhuman persons?

It would be no less ridiculous to argue certain human beings, regardless of physical or mental disadvantages are still persons as they clearly are sentient, display cognitive functions, and have personalities.

Animals are people. They may not be human people, but, we can agree that they are people.