Rational Egoism, Animal Rights, and the Academic Connection

In his article "Animal Rights," [lJ Jan Narveson presents an alternative "rroral" theory to what he calls the "Singer-Regan position." This theory--"rational egoism"-­ \\Quld exclude non-human animals from rroral consideration and deny them all rights. His excuse for developing this "nasty doctrine" is that he is "not convinced that they [Sing­ er and Regan] are right" and that "there is much to be learned from doing so." Regan replies to this argument in his article "Nar­ veson on Egoism and the Rights of Ani­ rrals, "[ 2] and now Dale Jamieson has entered the debate with his "Rational Egoism and Animal Rights," [3] a critique both of Narve­ son's position and of Regan's rebuttal.