Kenan Malik takes on Peter Singer
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/should-apes-have-rights-peter-singer
One reason why Kenan Malik is an intellectual hero of mine is his scepticism with regard to the widespread contemporary tendency to regard animals as having rights.
I think he comes out the winner in this "David versus Goliath" debate with the unjustly idolized Peter Singer. But read it and judge for yourself.
I find Kenan Malik's case against animal rights to be very well-argued and convincing.
I am a humanist too like Kenan and I agree with everything he says here.
I say this as a Green who even has sympathies with deep ecology.
I am a humanist and I certainly do not believe that we humans are "just another species".
Nor do I believe in any kind of Gaia hypothesis that the Earth is itself a living being.
But I do believe that humanity is clearly a part of nature and that it would be very difficult for us to live outside of nature; and that generally speaking we should respect and preserve nature.
I am a human and a humanist, and consequently I make a fundamental distinction in value between the human species and all other species. I believe this distinction to be fully justified.