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By Root 479 0

as we do other humans.58 Singer argues that we have no good reason to extend ethical treatment solely to humans—a bias he calls “speciesism.” Speciesism parallels the injustice of racism by arbitrarily giving special status to the interests of individual humans (over and above the interests of other animals) just because they’re members of our same species. Singer’s point is that consciousness is what’s morally relevant, not membership in a certain species. And while there may not be an absolutely clear line of demarcation between animals which have consciousness and animals which don’t, according to Singer, all mammals and birds should clearly be included because they can feel pain. But then what are we to think of Luke Skywalker, who shoots womprats in his T-16 and even brags about it to his friend Wedge? Presumably womprats can feel pain, yet this is of no concern to our otherwise moral young hero.

The question of the ethical treatment of animals in Star Wars proves difficult, since the distinction between human and animal simply doesn’t hold—or at least not in the same way. After all, Yoda clearly isn’t human, but we couldn’t call him a “mere” animal either. And other nonhuman creatures like Watto the Toydarian junk dealer and Jabba the Hutt raise similar problems. At the same time, some creatures certainly behave like animals—for example, mynocks and wampas. So perhaps our question should be rephrased: Are “animal-like” creatures treated ethically by the “human-like” creatures?

We do see some humane relationships between human-like and animal-like creatures. Han Solo and Chewbacca have a kind of friendship, albeit not one of equals—a point parodied in the film Spaceballs. Chewie is like a pet dog—loyal, dependable, and even well-trained, but not completely so (apparently Wookiees just aren’t good losers, or so Han warns C-3PO while R2-D2 plots to defeat Chewie at a board game). But overall, Chewbacca is treated almost like one of us. And on the other side, ethical corruption in Star Wars is often illustrated through the inhumane treatment of animals by characters such as Jabba the Hutt and Count Dooku. Creatures like the reek, the nexu, and the acklay are unleashed on Obi-Wan, Padmé, and Anakin in the Geonosian arena as a spectator sport (like the lions of the ancient Roman coliseum). And Jabba casts a slave-dancer down to a dungeon pit to be eaten by the wild rancor. In addition to the potential harm to the human-like characters in these cases, there’s the questionable presence of exotic animals, far from their natural habitats, in circus-like roles serving humans (or the human-like) for entertainment as well as other purposes. These animals are “owned” and their natural functions (like eating meat) are put on display. As we’ll see, this is completely out-of-sync with the Jedi way.

Although there’s no mention of “rights” for animal-like creatures by the “good guys” in Star Wars, they can’t be guilty of simple speciesism. Surely something like inter-species rights is at work in the Galactic Senate. Members of different species work together, co-operatively for the most part, toward the same political and ethical goals. Their different appearances are so irrelevant for the purposes of democratic participation that different species intermingle as if they’re merely different cultures or ethnic groups. We see inter-species co-operation in the Jedi Order and the Rebel Alliance as well. What brings these creatures together is capability, rather than species. In particular, self-consciousness is important here. The abilities to self-reflect and rationally deliberate are the very conditions for participation in democracy, which has at its center equality, rights, and justice based on the intrinsic value of every human being or human-like creature. Here we see the very strong humanist element in Star Wars—with a reminder that “human” need not apply only to Luke, Han, and the like.

But many environmental ethicists would argue that the inter-species relations we see in Star Wars fall short of an animal ethic, since equal