More than a contest of wills representing professional and economic interests, the animal rights debate is also an enduring topic in normative ethical theory. In paperback for the first time, "Defending Animal Rights" addresses the key issues in this sometimes acrimonious debate. Tom Regan responds thoughtfully to his critics while dismantling the conception that "all and only" human beings are worthy of the moral status that is the basis of rights. Systematically unravelling claims that human beings are rational and therefore entitled to superior moral status, Regan defends the inherent value of all individuals who are "subjects of a life" and decries the speciesism that pretends to separate human from nonhuman animals.