Animal Ethics: Toward an Ethics of Responsiveness
In: Research in PhenomenologySearch for other papers by Kelly Oliver in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
The concepts of animal, human, and rights are all part of a philosophical tradition that trades on foreclosing the animal, animality, and animals. Rather than looking to qualities or capacities that make animals the same as or different from humans, I investigate the relationship between the human and the animal. To insist, as animal rights and welfare advocates do, that our ethical obligations to animals are based on their similarities to us reinforces the type of humanism that leads to treating animals—and other people—as subordinates. But, if recent philosophies of difference are any indication, we can acknowledge difference without acknowledging our dependence on animals, or without including animals in ethical considerations. Animal ethics requires rethinking both identity and difference by focusing on relationships and responsivity. My aim is not only to suggest an animal ethics but also to show how ethics itself is transformed by considering animals.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1389 | 249 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 245 | 9 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 266 | 14 | 1 |
Animal Ethics: Toward an Ethics of Responsiveness
In: Research in PhenomenologySearch for other papers by Kelly Oliver in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The concepts of animal, human, and rights are all part of a philosophical tradition that trades on foreclosing the animal, animality, and animals. Rather than looking to qualities or capacities that make animals the same as or different from humans, I investigate the relationship between the human and the animal. To insist, as animal rights and welfare advocates do, that our ethical obligations to animals are based on their similarities to us reinforces the type of humanism that leads to treating animals—and other people—as subordinates. But, if recent philosophies of difference are any indication, we can acknowledge difference without acknowledging our dependence on animals, or without including animals in ethical considerations. Animal ethics requires rethinking both identity and difference by focusing on relationships and responsivity. My aim is not only to suggest an animal ethics but also to show how ethics itself is transformed by considering animals.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1389 | 249 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 245 | 9 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 266 | 14 | 1 |
