A possibilidade de atribuição de direitos aos animais no ordenamento brasileiro: a superação do paradigma especista

Abstract

The present paper intends to propose a triple approach of the animal rights issue: the evolution of the philosophical thought, the description of the appllication of such rights in the Brazilian legal system and the economical implications regarding its adoption. For that purpose, a exposure of the western philosophical appreciation of this subject was done starting from its beginnings, from ancient Greece until nowadays, with the birth of the Principle of Equal Consideration of Interests in the Australian philosopher Peter Singer’s book, Animal Liberation, indispensable tool for the rupture of the speciesism doctrine. Furthermore, the groundings of the institute of the legal personhood and the possibility of its extension to the animals was treated, as well as the ratio decidendi of the Brazilian Supreme Court regarding the matter. Hereafter, the sums of the animal exploration-based market are exposed, specifically those of the meat industry in Brazil, intending to verify the hypothesis of economical resistance to the issue of attributing rights to animals.