Rawls and Animal Moral Personality

Area of Science:

• Political Philosophy
• Animal Ethics
• Moral Philosophy

Background:

• Contractarian theories of justice, like John Rawls's, traditionally exclude animals.
• The exclusion is often based on the premise that animals lack moral personality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critique Rawls's rationale for omitting animals from his theory of justice.
• To explore the possibility of including animals within Rawlsian justice frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of Rawls's concept of moral personality.
• Review of scientific evidence on animal cognition and behavior (e.g., inequity aversion, social play).

Main Results:

• Some animals demonstrate capacities indicative of moral personality, such as pursuing preferences and exhibiting social justice behaviors.
• These findings challenge the strict dichotomy between humans and animals regarding moral personhood.

Conclusions:

• Rawls's theory of justice should be reconsidered to include animals possessing a threshold of moral personality.
• The concept of moral personality may need to be viewed as a spectrum rather than an absolute state.