
Why Animal Suffering Matters
Philosophy, Theology, and Practical Ethics
Andrew Linzey(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 12. December 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-0-19-935184-8 (ISBN)
Description
How we treat animals arouses strong emotions. Many people are repulsed by photographs of cruelty to animals and respond passionately to how we make animals suffer for food, commerce, and sport. But is this, as some argue, a purely emotional issue? Are there really no rational grounds for opposing our current treatment of animals?
In Why Animal Suffering Matters, Andrew Linzey argues that when analyzed impartially the rational case for extending moral solicitude to all sentient beings is much stronger than many suppose. Indeed, Linzey shows that many of the justifications for inflicting animal suffering in fact provide grounds for protecting them. Because animals, the argument goes, lack reason or souls or language, harming them is not an offense. Linzey suggests that just the opposite is true, that the inability of animals to give or withhold consent, their inability to represent their interests, their moral innocence, and their relative defenselessness all compel us not to harm them.
Andrew Linzey further shows that the arguments in favor of three controversial practices--hunting with dogs, fur farming, and commercial sealing--cannot withstand rational critique. He considers the economic, legal, and political issues surrounding each of these practices, appealing not to our emotions but to our reason, and shows that they are rationally unsupportable and morally repugnant.
In this superbly argued and deeply engaging book, Linzey pioneers a new theory about why animal suffering matters, maintaining that sentient animals, like infants and young children, should be accorded a special moral status.
In Why Animal Suffering Matters, Andrew Linzey argues that when analyzed impartially the rational case for extending moral solicitude to all sentient beings is much stronger than many suppose. Indeed, Linzey shows that many of the justifications for inflicting animal suffering in fact provide grounds for protecting them. Because animals, the argument goes, lack reason or souls or language, harming them is not an offense. Linzey suggests that just the opposite is true, that the inability of animals to give or withhold consent, their inability to represent their interests, their moral innocence, and their relative defenselessness all compel us not to harm them.
Andrew Linzey further shows that the arguments in favor of three controversial practices--hunting with dogs, fur farming, and commercial sealing--cannot withstand rational critique. He considers the economic, legal, and political issues surrounding each of these practices, appealing not to our emotions but to our reason, and shows that they are rationally unsupportable and morally repugnant.
In this superbly argued and deeply engaging book, Linzey pioneers a new theory about why animal suffering matters, maintaining that sentient animals, like infants and young children, should be accorded a special moral status.
Reviews / Votes
Linzey brings fresh eyes to the tradition, discovers in it unexpected resources, and breathes new life into doctrines that have come to seem antiquated. * Commonweal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
389 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-935184-8 (9780199351848)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2013
1st Edition
OUP USA
€21.99
Available for download

E-Book
11/2013
OUP USA
€21.99
Available for download
Person
Andrew Linzey is Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a Member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. He is the author of Animal Theology, Creatures of the Same God and Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care.
Author
Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and a Member of the Faculty of TheologyDirector of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and a Member of the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford
Content
Contents ; About the Author ; Introduction: Reason, Ethics, and Animals ; Part One: Making the Rational Case ; 1. Why Animal Suffering Matters Morally ; 2. How We Minimise Animal Suffering and How We Can Change ; Part Two: Three Practical Critiques ; 3. First Case: Hunting with Dogs ; 4. Second Case: Fur Farming ; 5. Third Case: Commercial Sealing ; 6. Conclusion: Re-Establishing Animals and Children as a Common Cause, and Six Objections Considered ; Acknowledgements ; Index