Ethical and Political Approaches to Nonhuman Animal Issues

This book offers ethical and political approaches to issues that nonhuman animals face. The recent ‘political turn’ in interspecies ethics, from ethical to political approaches, has arisen due to the apparent lack of success of the nonhuman animal movement and dissatisfaction with traditional approaches. Current works largely present general positions rather than address specific issues and principally rely on mainstream approaches. This book offers alternative positions such as cosmopolitan, libertarian, and left humanist thought, as well as applying ethical and political thought to specific issues, such as experimentation, factory farming, nonhuman political agency, and intervention. Presenting work by theorists and activists, insights are offered from both ethics and politics that impact theory and practice and offer essential considerations for those engaging in interspecies ethics within the political turn era.

• interspecies ethics
• political turn
• personhood
• empathy
• Anthropocentrism
• human psychology
• animal psychology
• near-persons
• inter-human relations
• speciesism
• Robert Nozick
• moral agency
• political voice
• Cosmopolitanism
• emotions
• nature

“This book beautifully captures where we – Animal Studies scholars – have come from, and where we are heading. Ryder, Adams and others lay the foundation stones, while a host of emerging scholars point to the future. This book is another reminder of the richness of the research field and the talent of those dedicated to conceptualising responses to the problematic nature of contemporary human/nonhuman relations.” (Siobhan O’Sullivan , Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, University of New South Wales, Australia)

“This book offers a great collection of essays at the cutting edge of ‘interspecies studies’.  By bringing together authors with philosophical, political and activist backgrounds, it makes for an important read for all of those concerned with the plight of nonhuman animals.” (Alasdair Cochrane, Senior Lecturer in Political Theory, University of Sheffield, UK)

“This book represents another positive step towards the development of a genuinely political approach to nonhuman animal ethics. The scope of the volume is impressive, containing not only contributions by some of the leading figures in the field but also by some rising stars. It deserves a wide audience.” (Robert Garner, Professor of Political Theory, University of Leicester, UK) 

• Independent Researcher, Huntly, United Kingdom

  Andrew Woodhall

• Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

  Gabriel Garmendia da Trindade

Andrew Woodhall is an independent researcher working on anthropocentrism and global interspecies ethics. His works include: Anthropocentrism and the Issues Facing Nonhuman Animals, Intervention or Protest, and Saving Nonhumans: Drawing the Threads of a Movement Together

Gabriel Garmendia da Trindade is a Doctoral Researcher in Global Ethics at the University of Birmingham, UK, working on the intersection between interspecies ethics and the ethics of war and self-defence. He co-edited Intervention or Protest with Andrew Woodhall.

Policies and ethics