Justice for Animals

October 15, 2022
The acclaimed moral philosopher advances a theory of justice that enables animals to lead empowered, safe, and dignified lives. According to Nussbaum, professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago and author of more than 20 books, humans and animals are moral equivalents and, as sentient beings, merit equal justice. This means substantial opportunities for choice and action in the areas of their lives that they value along with protection from injustices that wrongfully impede a flourishing existence. The latter is particularly critical given the cruelty, deprivation, and neglect that animals suffer. At the core of the argument is her previously developed Capabilities Approach, which valorizes a person's (and, now, an individual animal's) capacity to act and learn within enabling environments. She considers this theory superior to a "so like us" approach, which values animals for approximating human attributes such as speech but lacks "wonder at the diversity of nature [and] love of its many distinctive forms"; a utilitarianism that focuses on a calculus of pleasure and pain but ignores, for example, the sociability of animals; and a Kantian perspective that treats all creatures as ends rather than means while denying animals moral capacity. However, only beings that are intelligent, sentient, and striving (i.e., active in pursuing their goals) qualify for justice, hence omitting crustaceans, coral, and (maybe) bees. The robustness of Nussbaum's approach becomes clear as she reflects on how we should think about animal death; "tragic dilemmas" that pit humans against animals, as in medical experimentation; companion animals; and animal-human friendships. Central to attaining animal justice are legal supports that confer rights on animals and give them standing in the courts. The author is particularly insightful on "four areas of moral unease: medical experimentation, meat eating, questions raised by the hunting practices of threatened traditional cultures, and, finally, larger and more general conflicts over space and resources." A thought-provoking guide to ethical coexistence with the diverse creatures of Earth.

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Starred review from October 24, 2022
Animal rights can and should be protected, according to this lucid analysis from University of Chicago law professor Nussbaum (The Monarchy of Fear). “No non-human animal escapes human domination,” she writes, and, in fact, “much of the time, that domination inflicts wrongful injury on animals.” And while humans harming animals is nothing new, Nussbaum argues that such harm is currently inflicted on a much greater scale than ever, and that almost every human is culpable in polluting the planet. Moreover, scientific discoveries have established that animals are capable of feeling pain and have rich emotional lives and complex forms of social organization. Nussbaum reviews and dismisses prior frameworks for articulating the rights owed to animals—such as the Utilitarian approach (which takes into account primarily pleasure and pain, and is “too simple”) and the Kantian (which, in essence, suggests treating animals better in service of humans’ “own improvement”)—and puts forth her own theory called the “Capabilities Approach,” which asserts that “each sentient creature... should have the opportunity to flourish in the form of life characteristic for that creature.” As well, Nussbaum suggests a government-designated welfare agency be granted “for each type of animal.” This trenchant and masterful blend of political analysis, philosophical study, and call to action is a must-read.