Animal Ethics

Ethics and the non-human: the matterings of sentience in the meat industry

by Emma Roe

Published as chapter 14 in Taking-Place. Non-representational geographies and philosophies. Edited by Ben Anderson and Paul Harrison. Published in 2010 by Ashgate.

This chapter considers ethics and the non-human in the empirical context of animal production and meat processing. It... more This chapter considers ethics and the non-human in the empirical context of animal production and meat processing. It articulates an ethics of the nonhuman that works with a relational ontology between humans and nonhumans. It then goes on to develop work by Elizabeth Grosz and Karen Barad to discuss sentient materialities at work in the journey an animal body takes from farm to abattoir to becoming meat. This work concludes by arguing for the socio-historical contingencies of knowledge-making practices with sentient bodies in terms of the care now shown to the living animal's body. The modern meat industry 'reads' the feelings felt by the animal in the quality of its meat, after-death.

Ética de la investigación biomédica que usa y cuida animales experimentales

by Jorge Alberto Álvarez-Díaz

Interview with Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint of Ecoarttech

by Leila C. Nadir

Furtherfield.org Interview with Sophia Kosmaoglou - 20/04/2012

Refusing to regard technology merely as a tool, Ecoarttech expand the uses of mobile technology and digital networks... more Refusing to regard technology merely as a tool, Ecoarttech expand the uses of mobile technology and digital networks revealing them to be fundamental components of the way we experience our environment. Their most recent work Indeterminate Hikes + (IH +) is a phone app that maps a series of trails through the city. IH + can be accessed globally, or wherever users have access to Google Maps on their mobile phones. After identifying the users’ location, IH + generates a route along random “Scenic Vistas" within urban spaces. Users are directed to perform a series of tasks along the trail and provide feedback in the form of snapshots generating an ongoing, open-ended dialogue. But the experience of their work is primarily an encounter with technology. Since 2005, Leila Nadir and Cary Peppermint of Ecoarttech have been engaged in an artistic exploration of environmental sustainability and convergent media. By drawing our attention to the increasing replacement or mediation of physical experiences by technology, Ecoarttech challenge the widely reproduced distinction between nature and culture. They present their work in the form of videos, digital networks, blogs, performance and installations. Their early video-based work (Wilderness Trouble and Frontier Mythology) plays out a performative and ironic encounter with the natural environment as a historically constructed concept. In the summer of 2005 Ecoarttech made A Series of Practical Performances in the Wilderness (2005) a database networked performance in QuickTime (DVD and Podcast).

Les debemos algo a los animales salvajes-Torres Aldave

by Mikel Torres Aldave

In the Image of a Particular God: Elohim Vs Marduk

by Ryan Patrick McLaughlin

The Ark. 213 (Winter 2009).

Review: What it Means to be Human: Reflections from 1791 to the Present, by Joanna Bourke

by Rob Boddice

Dr Rob Boddice, review of What it Means to be Human: Reflections from 1791 to the Present, (review no. 1199)
URL: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1199

Noblesse Oblige: Theological Differences between Humans and Animals and What They Imply Morally

by Ryan Patrick McLaughlin

Oxford Journal of Animal Ethics 1, 2 (Fall 2011): 132-149

The author reviews the work of select theologians, ethicists, and biblical scholars who suggest that the difference... more The author reviews the work of select theologians, ethicists, and biblical scholars who suggest that the difference between humans and animals should not serve solely as an ascription of a special status to humans, but also as the foundation for a responsibility that humans bear toward animals.  As an added reflection, the author explores common categorical differentiations in systematic theology: God and creation; human and nonhuman; elect and non-elect.  In the first and last of these categorical differentiations, unique identity entails both a special status and responsibility.  The latter is normatively directed to those who are categorically different.  As such, the categorical difference between humans and animals establishes a foundation for moral concern.

Evidencing the Eschaton: Progressive-Transformative Animal Welfare in the Church Fathers

by Ryan Patrick McLaughlin

Modern Theology 27, 1 (January 2011): 121-46

The author aims to retrieve and develop creatively a strand of Christian thought, stretching from early Christian... more The author aims to retrieve and develop creatively a strand of Christian thought, stretching from early Christian interpretations of biblical data through the hagiographies of the saints into modern Christian thought, which provides a foundation for concern over the welfare of nonhuman animals. To provide the framework for this strand, the author explores the theology of Irenaeus of Lyons and Ephrem the Syrian. First, he considers their positions regarding the place of nonhuman animals in protology and eschatology. Then, he notes their view that the created order is in via toward its eschatological consummation. With this framework in place, he turns to other voices in the Christian tradition, including the hagiographies of the saints, in order to further develop the framework. Ultimately, the author suggests that, within this particular strand of Christian thought, the further a human being progresses along the path of redemption, the more he or she ought to serve as a prolepsis of eschatological hope, which includes peaceful relationships between humans and animals.

Capacidades y derechos de los animales: argumentos a favor de la teoría de MC Nussbaum

by Mikel Torres Aldave

La teoría de los derechos de los animales de Tom Regan-Torres Aldave

by Mikel Torres Aldave

The ethics of rodent control

by Frans W.A. Brom

with Bastiaan G Meerburg & Aize Kijlstra in: Pest Management Science 2008

Because western societies generally see animals as objects of moral concern, demands have been made on the way they... more Because western societies generally see animals as objects of moral concern, demands have been made on the way they are treated, e.g. during animal experimentation. In the case of rodent pests, however, inhumane control methods are often applied. This inconsistency in the human-animal relationship requires clarification. This paper analyses the criteria that must be met when judging the use of animals during experiments, and investigates whether these can be applied in rodent control. This is important, because, until now, animal welfare has been less of an issue in pest control: effectiveness, hygiene and cost efficiency have been leading principles. Two options are available to solve the inconsistency: the first is to abandon the criteria used in animal experimentation; the second is to apply these criteria to both animal experimentation and rodent control. This latter option implies that rodent control methods should not lead to intense pain or discomfort, and any discomfort should have a short duration and should allow escaped rodents to lead a natural life. Adherence to this option will, however, require a shift in the design of rodent control methods: effectiveness will no longer be the leading principle. It will have to share its position with animal welfare and humaneness.

The Machine Question: Ethics, Alterity and Technology

by David Gunkel

Chapter 6 of "Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology" (Purdue University Press, 2007)

This chapter, published in "Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology" (2007) represents... more This chapter, published in "Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology" (2007) represents something like a manifesto for the rights of machines. It considers the machine (AIs, robots, autonomous systems, etc.) as both moral agent and moral patient and argues for the ethical standing and appropriate treatment of artificial entities. The title refers to and expands on the "animal question," which has had considerable influence in moral philosophy during the later half of the 20th century. The machine question takes this moral innovation one step further by demonstrating that the machine, the other of the animal other, remains one of the last socially acceptable moral prejudices and arguing for a thinking of ethics that is able to proceed otherwise.

cfp_animals_in_political_theory

by Steve Cooke

CFP: MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory, Session on “Animals in Political Theory”

MANCEPT Workshops in... more CFP: MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory, Session on “Animals in Political Theory”

MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory - Ninth Annual Conference

Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT), University of Manchester, 5th - 7th September 2012

Workshop on Animals in Political Theory

Abstracts are invited for a workshop on Animal in Political Theory at the MANCEPT Workshops in Political Theory.

Conference website: http://manceptworkshops2012.wordpress.com/

Disvalue in Nature and Intervention

by Oscar Horta

Published in Pensata Animal, 34, 2010.

This paper presents a thought experiment to consider whether, in cases in which that would be feasible, it would be... more This paper presents a thought experiment to consider whether, in cases in which that would be feasible, it would be justified to intervene in natural processes to reduce the disvalue undergone by nonhuman animals.

El neoaristotelismo y la consideración moral de los animales no humanos

by Oscar Horta

Publicado en Devenires, 19, 2009, 43−68.

Este artículo examina las defensas de la consideración moral de los animales no humanos que pueden llevarse a cabo... more Este artículo examina las defensas de la consideración moral de los animales no humanos que pueden llevarse a cabo desde posiciones aristotélicas. Presenta asimismo el modo en el que esta se ha planteado, entre otros, por Steve Sapontzis, Stephen Clark, Martha Nussbaum, Daniel Dombrowski, Bernard Rollin o Nathan Nobis. El artículo no argumenta a favor de una posición neoaristotélica, pero sostiene que quienes acepten esta perspectiva tienen razones para rechazar la discriminación de los animales no humanos.

I found myself inside her fur…

by Catherine Harper

A final version of this text was published in the Skin Special Issue (editor: Caryn Simonson) of Textile: the Journal of Cloth and Culture 6:3, Autumn 2008, pp.300‐314.
An earlier, shorter version of the paper was published in selvedge magazine (2005), and a paper based on it was presented at the 11th International foundation of Fashion and Technology Institutes (IFFTI) conference,
London College of Fashion, April 2009.
This essay has been developed as a chapter for Catherine Harper’s
second solo-authored book, Fabrics of Design (in progress, Berg: 2013).

Catherine Harper was a founder member of the Animal Rights Movement of Northern Ireland in 1983.

Fur is the ultimate “fabric of desire.“ Humans covet the gorgeousness of the stuff on the backs of the wild and the... more Fur is the ultimate “fabric of desire.“ Humans covet the gorgeousness of the stuff on the backs of the wild and the caged, and from that desire to those enacted in the orgasmic moment of death, the climactic moment of consumption, the ecstatic moment of the performic enactment of fur through wearing it, fur is synonymous with desire. In this article, the author examines fur as both a fetish-fabric that disavows its bodily origin, a material fabric tied to seduction, sensuality, and somatic sensation, and a sadist-fabric that cannot be decoupled from the pornographic “snuff“ violence of its manufacture.

Cartesio e la separazione indimenticabile

by Leonardo Caffo

Non serve la fantascienza

by Leonardo Caffo

L'amore ai tempi dello specismo

by Leonardo Caffo

Animals Matter to God: Rediscovering Creation Guardianship

by Philip Johnson

Co-authored with Ruth Pollard
Sacred Tribes Journal 2/2 (2005): 57-125.
Copyright (c) 2005 Philip Johnson & Ruth Pollard

This is the original online version of the paper before it was reformatted with page numbering.

Also of relevance to the paper and the subject broadly refer to the 2006 radio broadcast on the ABC programme Encounter. Presenter: David Rutledge. Among the panel of interviewees is Rev Dr Andrew Linzey (Oxford), myself, Barbara Allen (Chaplain Lort Smith Animal Hospital), Binoy Kampmark (Selwyn College, Cambridge), and Islamic practitioner Mohamed el-Mouelhy.
An audio-file download and a written transcript can be obtained at:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/encounter/animals/3342398

I am currently preparing two different books on animals and theology, one popular and one for an academic audience. Both books will involve a different theological paradigm to the one that is presented in the paper here.

There are contemporary Christians for whom the subject of animals is important on ethical and theological grounds,... more There are contemporary Christians for whom the subject of animals is important on ethical and theological grounds, just as there have been in the past. As a small step towards generating further positive discussion, we present this essay, but we acknowledge that what we say here is very cursory. It is a preliminary foray only and does not pretend to be
comprehensive or to deal with all the serious issues related to human relations with animals.

Activists and jurists who have been concerned with animal issues have sought, in part, to redress some problems by arguing for legislation, or even animal rights covenants, based on the juridical concept of guardianship for humans. Although the concept of guardianship is not a new one, what is new is how it has recently been developed beyond its traditional application to children and incompetents and extended to animals. So part of this discussion will delve into the history of law related to guardianship, before analysing the views of the three
proponents of a legal guardianship model for animals. Later in the paper, a fourth view, which fits within the ambit of the legal guardianship model, but is not confined merely to the law, will be presented as the most expansive and generous of the views blending juridical and theological insights.

The critical methodology of this discussion seeks to integrate critical perceptions from theology, analytic philosophy and jurisprudence. The discussion shall briefly examine the fundamental dilemma of defining and justifying rights. It is argued, inter alia, that rights as properly understood as titles implies relationships, which in turn points the inquiry to the transcendent. Then it will be argued that contemporary moral
theories and philosophies of jurisprudence that seek to promote the cause of animals are unable to ultimately justify the grounds for inalienable rights for animals. In line with the insights of contemporary analytic philosophy, this discussion then highlights the need for a transcendental perspective, in which a transcendent-immanent Creator supplies the needed title for inalienable rights. Finally, the discussion proceeds to
examine the classical Christian doctrines of creation, redemption and eschatology that provide the essential fulcrum for the theoretical content and praxis of inalienable rights for animals, especially the recovery of creation guardianship.