Should Monkeys Be Considered Persons

I seem to disagree with my opponent"s legal definition of a person, that is "an entity recognized by the law as separate and independent, with legal rights and existence including the ability to sue and be sued, to sign contracts, to receive gifts, to appear in court either by themselves or by lawyer and, generally, other powers incidental to the full expression of the entity in law." There are many individuals that you could identify as persons without necessarily meeting the criteria of this definition. Take into consideration an infant, a child, and/or a mentally disabled human being. You would normally consider these as persons, but that would not be accurate according to this definition. A person should be defined as a sentient being. One with "the ability to feel, perceive, or experience subjectively." In this case, anyone that can feel and distinguish any type of emotion, including pleasure, pain, satisfaction, and frustration would be considered a person. Among these persons would be infants, children, and the mentally disabled, as well as animals. I also disagree with the fact that all human beings are capable of determining what is morally right and what is morally wrong. Again, I will bring up the example of an infant, a child, and/or a mentally disabled person. An human being living the younger years of their lives does not necessarily know what is considered right and wrong according to morals; after all they are only children, who still have much to learn about the world and morals. A mentally disabled individual"s brain does not quite function like a fully functioning individual"s brain. They may not be able to distinguish between right and wrong any more than children or animals can. This does not (and should not) mean that a child or mentally impaired human are less of a person for not being able to comprehend such morals and be denied of their rights, and the same goes for animals. I disagree with my opponent"s claim about monkey"s not being "more or less a person" because they "cannot talk and are not capable of forming higher level thoughts." Not only are monkeys considered sentient beings, with response to painful stimuli because of their sensory neurons, but they are indeed capable of higher levels of thought. Monkeys are known to create tools to obtain food. An example of tool making is when chimpanzees sharpen sticks to utilize as spears while hunting. Some monkeys have complex approaches for hunting that necessitates teamwork from others. Monkeys also seem to be aware of their place and rank in a group. They can alternate the behavior or insight of others with trickery. Monkeys can also distinguish between family members and other members of the same species. They can learn to use symbols, such as sign language, and they can understand characteristics of human language, as well as numerical values. An example of animal language research, where animals model human language, is the chimpanzee, Nim Chimpsky. This chimp was taught over one hundred signs in his lifetime. Kanzi the bonobo used a keyboard with lexigrams, which are symbols that match up to objects and ideas, to communicate along with sign language. Koko the gorilla was also taught how to sign to communicate with human, and can understand about 2,000 spoken words of English. Monkeys can also use their higher mental capacities to solve problems. In research done by Wolfgang Kohler in 1913, he studied and observed how chimpanzees would regain bananas that were not in their reach. In order to obtain the bananas, the chimps stacked ladders made of wooden crates to climb up. When the food was placed in a cage, the chimps used sticks to reach out to it. (http://en.m.wikipedia.org...) Granted, these tasks are not something that can be done by many animals, but these functions may be performed by a monkey. This then, in a sense, makes them closer to a human being than many other animals. I do apologize about the misunderstanding about "perforations" it was a typo on my behalf. I meant to say things that they prefer, or preferences.