Animal Ethics: The Basics

Animal Ethics has long been a highly contested area with debates driven by unease about various forms of animal harm, from the use of animals in scientific research to the farming of animals for consumption. Animal Ethics: The Basics is an essential introduction to the key considerations surrounding the ethical treatment of animals. Taking a thematic approach, it outlines the current arguments from animal agency to the emergence of the ‘political turn’. This book explores such questions as:

Can animals think and do they suffer?

What do we mean by speciesism?

Are humans special?

Can animals be political or moral agents?

Is animal rights protest ethical?

Including outlines of the key arguments, suggestions for further reading and a glossary of key terms, this book is an essential read for philosophy students and readers approaching the contested field of Animal Ethics for the first time.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Picturing Animal Ethics 2. Singer’s Utilitarianism 3. Regan on Animal Rights 4. Contract Theories 5.What is so special about Humans? 6. The Holocaust Analogy 7. Abolitionism 8. Animals and the Environment 9. The Political Turn. Conclusion Glossary Index