The purpose of this research is to examine the personhood of dolphins and the issue of whether they have certain rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, vis-a-vis humans. According to White, who distinguishes between the quality of being human and the quality of being a person, scientific research into dolphins supports the view that they fit virtually all philosophical criteria for personhood except one. That one criterion is that it is hard to see whether dolphins are held morally responsible or accountable for their actions. On the other hand, White cites Cousteau's speculation that "occasional solitary dolphins that are encountered may have been ostracized from their communities, something that would be a very serious punishment for such a social animal" (460).
The weight of evidence is on the side of the view that dolphins have such sophisticated social and communication skills that they should be considered persons. In particular, dolphins appear to exhibit altruistic behavior, not only in their tendency to support and help members of their schools (444-5) but also in their ability and willingness to help human beings whom they encounter in distress. In this regard, White describes incidents in which dolphins have buoyed up human beings who might otherwise have drowned and guided ships through hazardous waters (461). Meanwhile, despite the well-documented harm that human beings do to dolphins, "dolphins refrain from hurting us in return" (461). Additionally, White describes incidents in which captive dolphins appear to have intuitively responded to the emotional and physical condition of their human caretakers and observers: Apparently a pregnant dolphin went out of her way to make contact with a pregnant human being, possibly a function of dolphin sonar sensibilities. Another dolphin appears to have done water tricks in an attempt to cheer up a human researcher who had been saddened by the death of a capt...