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Home > UNDALR > Vol. 20 (2018)

 

Abstract

Science fiction and legal philosophy share an important goal: to make new possibilities thinkable. Science fiction is creative, playful, and limitless; legal philosophy has intellectual rigour. Using the former to teach the latter is an excellent way of making the important work of jurisprudence palatable for students. In this article, I outline one such endeavour: teaching the transgressive, norm-busting jurisprudence of nonhuman personhood with the 1968 film Planet of the Apes. I begin by outlining the special qualities of science fiction making it particularly useful for law classes in an age of acceleration (both technological and cultural). I summarise the film’s plot and themes, and draw out a core structuring element: the struggle to prove Taylor’s ‘apehood’. I discuss recent attempts by Steven Wise’s Nonhuman Rights Project to extend legal personhood to nonhuman animals, and analyse how, despite the nearly 50-year gap between them, the 1968 film could function as an allegory for the litigation: Taylor’s impossible position mirroring, in some ways, that of Tommy, Hercules and Leo (chimps who would be people). I explain how I used the film to teach the issues in my legal philosophy class, and conclude by reflecting on sci-fi’s value as a pedagogic resource taking us beyond the limits of traditional jurisprudence.

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