Damon Linker

Damon Linker contends in the following viewpoint that animals are not equal to humans because they are not moral creatures. Linker attacks the arguments of prominent philosophers within the animal rights movement to support his contentions. He maintains that humans alone are able to differentiate between right and wrong, and he argues that if animals are given equal legal status with people, human life will be demeaned. Damon Linker is an associate editor for First Things magazine.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Linker, what was the result of the October 2000 settlement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation"
2. What specific human acts does the author describe to illustrate that humans operate on a higher moral plane than do animals"
3. What effect has the animal rights movement...