In Peter Singers article "All Animals are Equal" he proposes the question should animals and humans be treated with the same primitive rights? Singer strongly opposes the idea of animal cruelty and believes that if a living organism can feel pain that organism morally has the right to be protected. Singer states, "The basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical treatment it requires equal consideration". He suggests this idea should apply not only to animals but also to infants and the mentally retarded. Singer questions how humans can say that we all deserve to be treated when all human beings are not equal. He ponders the idea of how different human beings really are from one another. The mental capacity of a human being differs greatly from person to person. Every person varies in their capability to love their ability to have compassion. All humans have different levels of sympathy and sensitivity. Singer claims that the only thing that all human beings possess collectively is the ability to experience pain and suffering. This trait is one that all animals embrace as well.
             Singer compares the way that humans treat animals to the way a white racist would treat a black man. If one were to infer a black man's potential based solely on the color of his skin that person would consequently be considered a racist. He therefore concludes that a person cannot judge a species based wholly on the type of animal with out considering themselves a speciesist. Singer goes on to say that racism and sexism cannot be based on the idea of equality. He says that since there is no quantifiable way of telling if a person is less intelligent because of genetics or because of their environment. Since we cannot concisely resolve this issue it becomes nearly impossible to defend treating animals as subordinates simply because they are not of our same species.
             The author's basic stan...