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Richard Dean (curate)
English minister and writer (c. 1727–1778) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Richard Dean (c. 1727 – 8 February 1778) was an English Anglican minister and early animal rights writer.
Biography
Dean was born in Kirkby Malham, Yorkshire, around 1727.[1] In addition to being an Anglican minister, Dean was schoolmaster of Middleton grammar school.[2] He was first curate of Royton Chapel and curate of Middleton.[1][2]
Dean is best known for his two volume book, An Essay on the Future Life of Brutes, which argued for animal rights and a future existence (afterlife) for animals from the Bible.[2][3][4] He argued that animal immortality followed logically and morally from animal sentience. Dean believed that animals had a sentient principle or soul and that and a loving God would not have created animals subject to pain if he had not intended to compensate their suffering with a future existence.[5]
Dean argued against the Cartesian view that animals were mere machines.[1] He argued for animal intelligence and asserted that animals live and suffer as humans do. He believed that this implied that man has a moral responsibility to animals. During his time not many writers held this view; however, Dean did acknowledge the work of John Hildrop.[1]
Dean died in Middleton on 8 February 1778.[1]
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Selected publications
- An Essay on the Future Life of Brutes (two volumes, 1768)
See also
References
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