Equality
Taylor's "A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes" was a direct satirical response to Mary Wollstonecraft's "1792 "Vindication of the Rights of Women." The title of Taylor's treatise suggests that the author is making a direct comparison between women (the subject of Wollstonecraft's work) and animals, beasts, or "brutes" (the title of Taylor's work). Therefore, Taylor's central argument against women's rights is that women are animals. If we do not give rights to cows and horses, then why would we proffer those rights to women? Taylor classifies women as an inferior species, likening them to animals. Singer points out that Taylor's argument is rooted in the assumption that animals are inferior to human beings.
Singer argues, "The extension of the basic principle of equality from one group to another does not imply that we must treat both groups in exactly the same way, or grant exactly the same rights to both groups." What he means is that because men and...
Even animals should be given "equal consideration," even if the actual "rights" they receive may be different from those given to male or female human beings.
3. According to Singer, equal consideration is not the same as identical treatment. Identical treatment denies the essential differences between people, and between men and women. Equal consideration distills the essence of equality, and does not bother itself with detail. The basis upon which Singer lambastes Taylor's case is on the philosophical principle of equal consideration. If the gender argument is extended to animals, as Taylor extends it, then it is clear that equal consideration should be given to all sentient beings. There is "nothing absurd in the idea that the basic principle of equality applies to so-called 'brutes.'"
7. According to Singer, "equality of consideration as the…
