动物权利(animal rights)
主要是反对杀生、残酷对待的权利，这种权利原本被视为属於非人的高等动物（例如黑猩猩）和许多靠知觉而拥有的低等动物。尊重动物的福利是某些古代东方宗教的诫律，包括不伤害所有生物的耆那教，还有禁止无端杀死动物（在印度特别是牛）的佛教。在西方，传统犹太教和基督教教导人们：动物是上帝为人类所用而创造的，包括作为食物；而许多基督教思想家论述：人类对动物没有任何道德责任，甚至包括不残酷对待的责任，因为它们缺乏理智，也不像人类一样以上帝的形象被创造出来。这个观点盛行於18世纪晚期，当时边沁（Jeremy Bentham）等伦理哲学家应用功利主义（Utilitarianism）的原则，推断出不得无端虐待动物的道德责任。20世纪下半叶，伦理哲学家辛格（Peter Singer）等人试着利用「造成不需要的苦难是错的」等简单而广被接受的道德原则，直接揭示不该伤害动物的责任。他们也论述：动物与人类之间没有「道德上的差异」，可让人们在「工厂」（factony farm）饲养动物以作为食物或者用於科学实验或产品测试（例如化妆品测试）成为正当。持反对观点的人主张：人类对动物没有道德责任，因为动物无法达成假设的「道德契约」，进而尊重其他理性生物的权益。现代的动物权利运动部分受到辛格工作的启发。20世纪末，该运动促使众多团体致力於各种相关的条款，包括：保护濒临灭绝的物种，抗议以痛苦或残忍方法捕捉和杀死动物（例如为了毛皮），防止把动物用於实验研究中，提倡素食主义（vegetarianism）的健康益处。
English version：
animal rights
rights, primarily against being killed and being treated cruelly, that are thought to be possessed by higher nonhuman animals (e.g., chimpanzees) and many lower ones by virtue of their sentience. Respect for the welfare of animals is a precept of some ancient Eastern religions, including Jainism, which enjoins [sanskrit]ahimsa (“noninjury”) toward all living things, and Buddhism, which forbids the needless killing of animals, especially (in India) of cows. In the West, traditional Judaism and Christianity taught that animals were created by God for human use, including as food, and many Christian thinkers argued that humans had no moral duties of any kind to animals, even the duty not to treat them cruelly, because they lacked rationality or because they were not, like Man, made in the image of God. This view prevailed until the late 18th century, when ethical philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham applied the principles of utilitarianism to infer a moral duty not to inflict needless suffering on animals. In the latter half of the 20th century, the ethical philosopher Peter Singer and others attempted to show that a duty not to harm animals follows straightforwardly from simple and widely accepted moral principles, such as “It is wrong to cause unnecessary suffering.” They also argued that there is no “morally relevant difference” between humans and animals that would justify raising animals, but not humans, for food on “factory farms” or using them in scientific experiments or for product testing (e.g., of cosmetics). An opposing view held that humans have no moral duties to animals because animals are incapable of entering into a hypothetical “moral contract” to respect the interests of other rational beings. The modern animal-rights movement was inspired in part by Singer's work. At the end of the 20th century, it had spawned a large number of groups dedicated to a variety of related causes, including protecting endangered species, protesting against painful or brutal methods of trapping and killing animals (e.g., for furs), preventing the use of animals in laboratory research, and promoting what adherents considered the health benefits and moral virtues of vegetarianism.