Enlightenment from Tom Regan's "Animal Rights Theory"

Purpose/Significance The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted the social economy and the national order of life, and also caused profound introspection.The relationship between man and animals has been a problem that philosophers have been unable to avoid in their exploration of nature since ancient times. Tom Regan advocated the theory that animals have equal moral rights, jumped out of the perspective of anthropocentrism and reconstructed the relationship between humans and animals from the dimension of equality and respect for the subject of life. Design/Methodology through text analysis, the core terms and logic of Regen’s theory were sorted out, and the animal rights theory was examined in combination with the epidemic situation and national conditions. Findings/Conclusions From the perspective of philosophy, based on the values of inherent value, respect principles, and non-anthropocentrism value ideal, human beings should face up to the relationship between humans and animals, improve the awareness of protecting animals, and respect the right to live and the environment of wild animals. From the perspective of reality, human beings should be kind to farming animals, promote vegetarianism, standardize animal experimentation ethics, oppose to hunting and recreational activities for animals, pay attention to endangered animals, restrict human behavior, and form a beautiful scene of harmony between man and nature and the symbiosis of all things.