Archive PETA would be pleased... Dolphins = "Non-Human Person"

Fly4Fun

Posts: 7,730

Jun 18, 2013 12:08pm

In an otherwise bland article about the intelligence of dolphins, in the beginning is a little segment that India has banned dolphin amusement parks as they are "Non-human persons."

That's a very interesting term that India has used to label them. I guess it suggests that any animal can be a person if it has reached a certain level of intelligence and sensitivity.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/06/13/191286344/why-dolphins-make-us-nervous

Now is there a corollary that you can have "Human non-persons?"

Commander of Awesome

Posts: 23,151

Jun 18, 2013 12:12pm

Pretty interesting term that India has chosen for Dolphins. I suppose that they're thinking intelligence levels equate to "person". Sure there is some religious influences in that label. /F4F

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gut

Posts: 15,058

Jun 18, 2013 1:15pm

So long as my favorite sushi stays off the list...wouldn't want to be cannibal

Q

queencitybuckeye

Posts: 7,117

Jun 18, 2013 1:27pm

Fly4Fun;1459369 wrote:In an otherwise bland article about the intelligence of dolphins, in the beginning is a little segment that India has banned dolphin amusement parks as they are "Non-human persons."

That's a very interesting term that India has used to label them. I guess it suggests that any animal can be a person if it has reached a certain level of intelligence and sensitivity.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/06/13/191286344/why-dolphins-make-us-nervous

Now is there a corollary that you can have "Human non-persons?"

Steubenville residents?

like_that

Posts: 26,625

Jun 18, 2013 1:36pm

Fly4Fun;1459369 wrote:In an otherwise bland article about the intelligence of dolphins, in the beginning is a little segment that India has banned dolphin amusement parks as they are "Non-human persons."

That's a very interesting term that India has used to label them. I guess it suggests that any animal can be a person if it has reached a certain level of intelligence and sensitivity.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/06/13/191286344/why-dolphins-make-us-nervous

Now is there a corollary that you can have "Human non-persons?"

Pretty interesting term. One would think that any animal would be a person if they had a certain level of IQ. I wonder if there is a corollary that you can have "human non-persons...."

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gut

Posts: 15,058

Jun 18, 2013 1:41pm

like_that;1459420 wrote:Pretty interesting term. One would think that any animal would be a person if they had a certain level of IQ. I wonder if there is a corollary that you can have "human non-persons...."

Yes, but the more common term is "unborn fetus".

On a more serious note, would a trained dolphin score higher on an IQ test than, say, a 3-month old? Or are we going to talk about potential as opposed to actual?