Submission + - Should Dolphins be Treated as Non-Human Persons?
Hugh Pickens writes: "Dolphins have long been recognized as among the most intelligent of animals but now the Times reports that a series of behavioral studies suggest that dolphins, especially species such as the bottlenose, have distinct personalities, a strong sense of self, can think about the future and are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”. “Many dolphin brains are larger than our own and second in mass only to the human brain when corrected for body size,” says Lori Marino, a zoologist at Emory University. “The neuroanatomy suggests psychological continuity between humans and dolphins and has profound implications for the ethics of human-dolphin interactions." For example, one study found that dolphins can recognize their image in a mirror as a reflection of themselves — a finding that indicates self-awareness similar to that seen in higher primates and elephants and other studies have found that dolphins are capable of advanced cognitive abilities such as problem-solving, artificial language comprehension, and complex social behavior, indicate that dolphins are far more intellectually and emotionally sophisticated than previously thought. Thomas White, professor of ethics at Loyola Marymount University has written a series of academic studies suggesting dolphins should have rights claiming that the current relationship between humans and dolphins is, in effect, equivalent to the relationship between whites and Black slaves two centuries ago. “The scientific research . . . suggests that dolphins are ‘non-human persons’ who qualify for moral standing as individuals," says White."
