ABSTRACT

All social behaviour is covered by the absolute principle of the right of all individuals to a life of restricted freedom. The principle had no place for special pleading like that of Martin for fox-hunting. But if individuality is the basis of rights, it is also the basis of duties. The principle makes great demands on the way individuals and society treat animals. However, it is interesting to note that Salt was reticent to apply the principle equally to all animals. In particular, he seems to have thought that domestic and wild animals could be treated differently without undermining the integrity of animal rights. This chapter reveals Salt's accounts of how the principle of animal rights should be enforced, and why. Henry Salt saw animal rights as a way of life as much as a moral principle and Peter Singer tied it in with most of the other concerns about lifestyle and selfhood which appeared in the 1960s.