New Perspectives on Animal Rights

The history of what we call moral progress can for the most part be seen as the history of the substitution of hierarchical visions with presumptions in favor of equality. The recent irruption into the social scene of the animal question is part of this ongoing process–a process that is usually characterized by a direct…

To many of those working in the field of animal ethics, the case for the rights of animals is so eminently invincible that its demonstration needs little rigorous argument. To be sure, there are interminable debates about the relevant ethical criteria, revolving around pain and suffering, the value of life, the appropriate nonhuman animal and human…

The lunch provided for participants at an ethics conference includes no vegetarian entrée-even though you specified in accepting the invitation that you would need one.  You ask the head of the catering team what vegetarians are supposed to eat.  He says, “Oh, no problem. There’s a salad”-as if those who try to eat cruelty-free are…

Where does all the war, racism, terrorism, violence, and cruelty that’s so endemic to human civilization come from? Why do humans exploit and massacre each other so regularly? Why is our species so violence-prone? To answer these questions we would do well to think about our exploitation and slaughter of animals and its effect on…