On Ascribing Personhood to All Primates

Although not explicitly stated, Nobert Elias's Civilizing Process provides a theoretical framework for Prolegomenon Toward a Primate Rights Bill. The core tenets of Elias's work, including interdependency, habitus, and privatization, are common threads throughout the book. The book depicts a utopian ideal whereby the transformation in societal attitudes to nonhuman primates reaches a level wherein all primates come within the protection of the law. This will require the metamorphosis of attitudes (changes in norms and behavior and recognition of sentience) and approaches, including state involvement and intervention, in order to ensure the proposed bill of rights is enforced. Whether this will continue as an ideal or, in the future, form the basis of federal legislation akin to the European Convention on Human Rights or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains to be seen; nevertheless, the book raises some compelling arguments.