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Cetacean Personhood, Rights, and Flourishing

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Marine Mammals: the Evolving Human Factor

Part of the book series: Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals ((EBEMM))

Abstract

Cetaceans are large-brained intelligent mammals with long-term bonds, social associations across multiple levels, and learned cultural traditions who possess characteristics that define personhood. In this chapter we discuss these characteristics in terms of species-specific capacities and how they are related to both harm and flourishing. We argue that our treatment of cetaceans, both those in captivity and in the oceans, causes them harm and violates their inherent rights as nonhuman persons and, is, therefore, unacceptable. We propose ways in which we can and should respond by recognizing the rights of cetaceans in the law through legal personhood. Legal rights would, in essence, go far to eliminate many of the harms, e.g., captivity, slaughter, use as a means to an end, currently still perpetrated by humans on cetaceans.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some authors use the term “thriving,” not “flourishing.” This chapter uses the latter term, as it is more frequently used in ethics literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Whale Sanctuary Project, Kanab, USA

    Lori Marino

  2. Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA

    Thomas I. White

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  1. Lori Marino
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Correspondence to Lori Marino .

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  1. Tethys Research Institute, Milan, Italy

    Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

  2. Texas A&M University at Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA

    Bernd Würsig

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Marino, L., White, T.I. (2022). Cetacean Personhood, Rights, and Flourishing. In: Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., Würsig, B. (eds) Marine Mammals: the Evolving Human Factor. Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Marine Mammals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98100-6_12

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