The Ninth Street Center Infrequently Asked Questions

If IBM is a person, why isn't my cat?

I've been thinking lately of how language grows, and how our view of animals (especially mammals) has focused in the last 50 years. I think we could use a better word than "mammal" to describe the "happy family" of creatures that mutually empathize and nurture one another in the bioculture we see all around us, especially in urban environments.

Here's an idea. I think of my pets as little people, but "people" already has a well-defined and useful sociological definition. So how about calling anything that has a personality a "person"? All of us, from pet owners to sociobiologists, are already quite accustomed to describing individual mammals as having a "lovely" or "fierce" or "gentle" personality. Why then aren't these individuals persons?

Besides, if corporation can be "persons" just to enjoy legal protections, isn't it time we grant similar legal protections to fellow creatures that think and feel?