L’affaire Harry. Petite scientifiction

Vinciane Despret, Université de Liège (ULg)
Serge Gutwirth, Law, Science, Technology & Society @ Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Abstract

Departing from a fictive situation the article envisions the possibility to confer the status of legal person to apes. It explores the existing legal debate and notes that there is a crucial difference between the status of person from a legal and from a symbolic perspective. The article further considers the consequences of an adaptation of the law in this sense, not for the humans as is usually the case, but for the other animals who would not benefit from such change.