Why, actually? The thinking behind the stance.

The founder of utilitarianism posed the question in 1789 that still shapes animal ethics today: “The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” What counts morally is who can suffer and feel joy — not who possesses reason.

Best-known work: “An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation” (1789)

Schopenhauer made compassion the foundation of all morality — and sharply criticised Western philosophy and Christianity for having declared animals mere things. For him, whoever torments animals violates the very core of ethics.

Best-known work: “On the Basis of Morality” (1840; German: “Preisschrift über die Grundlage der Moral”)

“I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live.” His ethic of reverence for life makes every living being an object of moral consideration. The Berlin foundation that bears his name campaigns against factory farming today.

Best-known work: “Civilization and Ethics” (1923; German: “Kultur und Ethik”)

The Australian philosopher sparked the modern animal-rights movement in 1975. His principle: equal interests deserve equal consideration — regardless of which species a being belongs to. Anyone who gives less weight to suffering simply because it befalls an animal is practising speciesism (a term coined by Richard Ryder in 1970).

Best-known work: “Animal Liberation” (1975; German: “Die Befreiung der Tiere”); revised edition “Animal Liberation Now” (2023)

Regan went beyond Singer’s weighing of interests: animals are “subjects-of-a-life” — they have desires, memories, a welfare of their own. They therefore possess inherent value and genuine rights that must not be traded off against benefits for others. The consequence: abolishing animal use, not improving it.

Best-known work: “The Case for Animal Rights” (1983)

The US law professor stands for abolitionism: as long as animals are legally property, their interests will always come second. Welfare reforms (“bigger cages”) merely soothe the conscience. The only consistent answer, he argues, is veganism as a moral baseline.

Best-known works: “Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog?” (2000), “Animals as Persons” (2008)

The Chicago philosopher extends her capabilities approach to animals: every living being is entitled to develop the capabilities typical of its species — to move, to play, to form bonds. It’s about justice, not pity.

Best-known work: “Justice for Animals” (2023; German: “Gerechtigkeit für Tiere”)

The Harvard philosopher grounds animal rights in Kant — of all people, the thinker who denied animals dignity. Her argument: what is good or bad for a creature matters for that creature absolutely. Animals are therefore ends in themselves, not means.

Best-known work: “Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to the Other Animals” (2018)

The Canadian writing duo thinks animal rights politically: domesticated animals are fellow citizens entitled to a say, wild animals form sovereign communities, urban animals such as foxes and pigeons are “denizens” with a right of residence. A blueprint for living together in a big city like Berlin.

Best-known work: “Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights” (2011)

The US feminist shows how meat consumption and violence against women are linked in language and culture: the animal becomes the “absent referent” — the living being turns into a product, and the suffering disappears behind words like “steak”. A foundational text of ecofeminism.

Best-known work: “The Sexual Politics of Meat” (1990; German: “Zum Verzehr bestimmt”)

The social psychologist coined the term carnism: the invisible belief system that lets us love certain animals and eat others without noticing the contradiction. Her work explains why facts alone rarely change minds.

Best-known work: “Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows” (2010; German: “Warum wir Hunde lieben, Schweine essen und Kühe anziehen”)

The novelist spent three years researching the animal industry after his son was born. His book combines reportage, family history and ethics — and has got more people thinking about meat than many a philosophy seminar.

Best-known work: “Eating Animals” (2009; German: “Tiere essen”)

The journalist and philosopher lives with rescued animals at a sanctuary in the Lüneburg Heath. Her core tenet: animals are individuals with lives of their own — and there is no such thing as “species-appropriate husbandry”, only freedom. One of the most important German-language voices in animal ethics.

Best-known work: “Artgerecht ist nur die Freiheit” (Only Freedom Is Species-Appropriate, 2014)

The Berlin philosopher sees animal ethics as a political project: it’s not just individuals who have to change, but the animal industry as a system. She researches the transformation of agriculture and is a regular voice at Berlin lectures and panel discussions.

Best-known works: “Tiere essen – dürfen wir das?” (Eating Animals – Are We Allowed To?, 2020), “Anders satt. Wie der Ausstieg aus der Tierindustrie gelingt” (Full Another Way: How to Get Out of the Animal Industry, 2022)

The philosopher and author has made animal ethics accessible to a broad German audience. His position: the right to use animals is a habit, not a reasoned order — and the boundaries of what is human need to be redrawn.

Best-known work: “Tiere denken. Vom Recht der Tiere und den Grenzen des Menschen” (Thinking Animals: On the Rights of Animals and the Limits of Humanity, 2016)

The Mannheim philosopher stands for an ethics of compassion in the tradition of Schopenhauer: the foundation of morality is the ability to recognise the suffering of other beings as a reason to act. Her early text “Das Tier in der Moral” helped found the German debate.

Best-known works: “Das Tier in der Moral” (The Animal in Morality, 1990), “Ethik der Mensch-Tier-Beziehung” (Ethics of the Human–Animal Relationship, 2012)