Grounded exclusively in lovingkindness and compassion, Buddhist ethics protect all who need protection, which is to say, all beings able to suffer, regardless of their rationality, intelligence, use of language and tools, self-awareness, or any other extraneous factor. Buddhism has recognized from its inception what Enlightenment philosopher Jeremy Bentham said in 1789. "What else is it that should trace the insuperable line [between beings who are entitled to ethical treatment and those who are not]? Is it the faculty of reason, or perhaps the faculty of discourse? But a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day, a week, or even a month old. But suppose the case were otherwise, what would it avail? The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can the talk? but Can they suffer?"
As with Bentham, so with Buddhism. In an ethic based on compassion, there is only one relevant question, "Can they suffer?" Issues of reason, language, and the like are beside the point.
---The Great Compassion: Buddhism and Animal Rights, by Norm Phelps---
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