Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book reviews the literature on the moral status of robots. It clarifies the relationship between the muddled array of concepts central to the machine question that serve to justify or invalidate the basis for the possession of rights. The book examines the ways in which philosophical literature and case law on animal rights inform the discussion of rights for robots. It analyzes discussions about animal rights appearing in religious doctrine, Enlightenment thinking, philosophical treatises on animal ethics, and innovative legal theory. The book details how scholarship from environmental ethics, law, and philosophy, along with recent cases pertaining to the Rights of Nature, might provide a basis for extending rights to nonhuman entities.