Background
Steven M. Wise was born in 1952, in Maryland, United States.
Sadler Center, 200 Stadium Dr, Williamsburg, VA 23185, United States
Steven holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the College of William and Mary.
765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, United States
Steven received a Juris Doctor from Boston University Law School.
Photo of Steven M. Wise
Photo of Steven M. Wise
Photo of Steven M. Wise
Photo of Steven M. Wise
Photo of Steven M. Wise
Photo of Steven M. Wise
(Rattling the Cage explains how the failure to recognize t...)
Rattling the Cage explains how the failure to recognize the basic legal rights of chimpanzees and bonobos in light of modern scientific findings creates a glaring contradiction in our law. In this witty, moving, persuasive, and impeccably researched argument, Wise demonstrates that the cognitive, emotional, and social capacities of these apes entitle them to freedom from imprisonment and abuse.
https://www.amazon.com/Rattling-Cage-Toward-Rights-Animals/dp/0738204374/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=Steven+M.+Wise&qid=1612955462&s=books&sr=1-4
2000
Steven M. Wise was born in 1952, in Maryland, United States.
Steven holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the College of William and Mary and a Juris Doctor from Boston University Law School.
Although Steven M. Wise began his legal career as a personal injury lawyer, he was inspired to use his legal knowledge to protect nonhuman animals after reading Princeton ethicist Peter Singer's book Animal Liberation. He was president of the Animal Legal Defense Fund from 1985 to 1995.
Wise has been president of the Nonhuman Rights Project, a civil rights organization working to attain legal rights for nonhuman animals since 1995. The Nonhuman Rights Project began filing a series of cases on behalf of chimpanzees in the courts of New York State in December 2013, demanding that the courts recognize that chimpanzees are "persons" for the purpose of a common-law and statutory writ of habeas corpus. The Nonhuman Rights Project has had published two law review articles about aspects of its work with three more articles having been accepted for publication. It is working with legal groups in seven countries to have nonhuman animals declared persons in those countries.
Wise taught the first class in Animal Rights Law at the Harvard Law School and has taught Animal Rights Jurisprudence at the Stanford Law School, as well as the St. Thomas University, and John Marshall Law School, and is currently teaching Animal Rights Jurisprudence at the Lewis and Clark Law School and Vermont Law School.
He is the author of Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals, Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights, Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery.
(Rattling the Cage explains how the failure to recognize t...)
2000According to Wise, a creature must meet three criteria to be considered a person under the law: it must be able to desire things, to act in an intentional manner to get the things it desires, and to have a sense of self. In his work he shows how chimpanzees and bonobos, which are the animals most similar to humans, meet these criteria; in Drawing the Line he extends the same reasoning to elephants, parrots, dolphins, orangutans, and gorillas. Wise also recounts how African Americans and women were once considered things rather than people under the law and how changing opinions about their mental capacities led to their being granted full legal rights. However, Wise generally refrains from using those examples to make moral arguments for granting animals rights.
Steven married Debra Slater. The couple has three children: Roma, Siena, and Christopher.