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Book Reviews

PAOLA CAVALIERI AND PETER SINGER, EDS The Great Ape Project: Equality Beyond Humanity New York: St. Martin's, 1993. viii, 312 pp. $21.95

Gordon M. Burghardt UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE

The Great Ape Project, a collection of 30 essays on non-human primate rights, explores a bold proposition, reflected in its subtitle, Equality beyond Humanity: that we seriously consider whether the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) should be included in the "community of equals" together with humans. A short Declaration of "basic moral principles or rights" for the great apes opens the volume. The three rights delineated are the right to life, the protection of individual liberty, and the prohibition of torture. The book is a call for action, not for more study. Proceeds from the book are to go toward "freeing all imprisoned chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans and returning them to an environment that accords with their physical, mental and social needs" (p. 3). An address is provided for those who want more information. The book ends with a discussion by the editors of some practical issues, of the apparent inconsistency in limiting this application of animal liberation to the great apes, and of the similarity between freeing apes and abolishing human slavery. Slave revolts and rebellions in ancient Greece and Rome are also discussed. I wanted to like this book, and in many ways I do. The Declaration is itself a welcome step to promote serious discussion of the value of both human and nonhuman life and the boundaries of responsibility we have to other species. One can only wish that the essays supporting the Declaration had been written with the eloquence, passion, and consistent vision of a Thomas Paine. Instead, there are 30 disparate chapters between the opening Declaration and the editors' final com- ments. These include reports of heartfelt emotional experiences with apes, general essays on topics associated with animal welfare, summaries of great ape research findings, and discussions of ethical and legal issues involving the relationships between apes and people. Individually, many of these essays are interesting and useful. However, this reader became increasingly disoriented by the cacophony of voices with different levels of sophistication and different research agendas, varying from the scholarly to the anecdotal and personal. 84

Years ago, Herzog and I outlined some of the difficulties involved in develop- ing a coherent, consistent ethical framework for dealing with other species ("Beyond Conspecifics: Is Brer Rabbit our Brother?" [BioScience,1980, (30), 763- 768]). We divided these ethical considerations into four groupings: direct costs and benefits to humans, anthropomorphic factors, psychological processes, and eco- logical issues. We concluded that the conflicts among the considerations in each of these groupings precluded the development of any encompassing ethical frame- work. Nonetheless, the attempt to consider ethical issues seriously and dispassion- ately is necessary and perhaps the primary reason for ethical philosophical reflection and analysis in the first place. The lack of progress made since then in integrating and balancing these four areas is evident in this book. Anthropomorphic and psychological issues predominate, while human cost/benefit and ecological issues take the back seat. The 30 essays come from distinguished researchers. Animal researchers include Goodall, Roger and Deborah Fouts, Miles, Dawkins, Bekoff, Kortlandt, Dunbar, and Mitchell. Animal movement activists include Regan, Clark, Ryder, Noske, Miller, Rollin, Rachels, and Sapontzis. Most articles were written for this book. To review the many diverse opinions and evaluate them is not possible here. Some of the authors ask, "Why limit the Declaration to the great apes?" As one who believes the true test of our respect for other animals lies in our treatment of venomous snakes and large carnivores, I too am wary of a creeping speciesism inherent in the proposal set forth here. Bekoff, a comparative ethologist who works primarily with carnivores and birds, advances three reasons for beginning with apes: common sense, research findings in cognitive ethology, and evolutionary continuity. The editors appeal more directly to pragmatism: we need to start somewhere, and the great apes provide our best chance to breach the species barrier. Furthermore, the consequences of extending rights to great apes are relatively small I in their effect on the lives of humans. Certainly, it would be far more difficult to abolish captive lives for all domestic animals, be they cows, dogs, or chickens. Still, some argue that medical advances based on research with apes could have an impact on millions of people. Additionally, even the research on ape cognition presented in this book and used to support the Declaration was carried out largely on captive animals. Let us assume that these points can be addressed effectively. Those looking for cogent, consistent reasoning for adopting the radical implications of the Declaration must be selective in what they draw from the essays included here, for they are riddled with errors and inconsistencies. For example, Nishida claims, incorrectly, that "probably no one has studied any other species of animal for more than twenty years" (p. 24) as an argument for the distinctiveness