Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights

Steven M. Wise
Basic Books (2002)
Reviewed by Kathleen Gerbasi
Reprinted with Permission from the Society & Animals Forum

Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights is the latest book from Steven M. Wise, animal protection attorney and author of Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals. Drawing the Line briefly reviews issues surrounding the legal status of non-human animals and then suggests that for animals to be granted rights they must be shown to have “practical autonomy”. “Practical autonomy” is defined as the ability to desire, the ability to intentionally try to fulfill those desires, and the awareness of a sense of self that permits the individual to understand that it is the self who has the desires.

He explores, with the help of many noted cognitive ethologists and a variety of other experts, the extent to which we can know whether or not various species possess practical autonomy. He reviews the cognitive functioning of a human child, his son Christopher; Marbury, his family dog; honeybees; Alex, the talking African Grey parrot; two dolphins, Phoenix and Ake; Echo, an elephant; Chantek, an orangutan, and finally Koko, a gorilla. It is noteworthy that all of the animals considered with the exception of the honeybees have names. Any human animal interested in a scientific understanding of the cognitive abilities of these other species of animals will find this book absolutely fascinating.

Wise writes from his vantage point of a lay person working his way through the complexities of cognitive sciences for the purpose of establishing where on a continuum of practical autonomy all of the animals under consideration fall. He reviews these animals’ abilities in many spheres including language, communication, mirror self-recognition, and Piagetian object permanence. The experts with whom Wise consulted are a Who’s Who of cognitive ethologists, psychologists, biologists, and other scientists. The book presents a unique combination of details of Wise’s actual meetings with many of the animals, explanations by the experts of what each animal’s capabilities are, and Wise’s assessment of where the animal falls on the practical autonomy continuum.

For me the book has several levels. First, as a psychologist intrigued by cognitive ethology, I was envious of Wise’s opportunity to meet and interact with many of these world renown animals. I found his reports of these meetings most interesting. On the scientific level, I would have liked more detail about a number of studies alluded to in passing, but I realize that this was not meant to be a textbook on cognitive ethology, but rather a presentation enabling the non-scientist to become acquainted with major topics in the field. To that end the book clearly achieves its goal. Finally and most importantly, Wise applies the findings from all of these animals to the concept of practical autonomy and evaluates their implications for the establishment of rights for animals.

I think Drawing the Line is a very important book. Anyone who reads this book with an open mind will have to give Wise’s claims for animal rights serious consideration.