Taking Animals Seriously: Mental Life and Moral Status

by David DeGrazia

Overview

Transcending the overplayed debate between utilitarians and rights theorists, the book offers a fresh methodological approach with specific constructive conclusions about our treatment of animals. David DeGrazia provides the most thorough discussion yet of whether equal consideration should be extended to animals' interests, and examines the issues of animal minds and animal well-being with an unparalleled combination of philosophical rigor and empirical documentation. This book is an important contribution to the field of animal ethics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521561402
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/13/1996
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.98(d)

Table of Contents

1. A short primer on animal ethics; 2. The coherence model of ethical justification; 3. Animals' moral status and the issue of equal consideration; 4. Motivation and methods for studying animal minds; 5. Feelings; 6. Desires and beliefs; 7. Self-awareness, language, moral agency, and autonomy; 8. The basics of well-being across species; 9. Back to animal ethics.

Editorial Reviews

"David DeGrazia has explored some very complex issues in ethics and philosophy of mind concerning the mental lives, well-being, and moral status of non-human animals. The results show both impressive philosophical sophistication and an excellent command of the empirical literature. Taking Animals Seriously ranks with the very best work done by philosophers on the issue of our treatment of animals." Wayne Sumner, University of Toronto

"David DeGrazia is one of the most promising young scholars in the field of biomedical ethics. His work on animal welfare and the foundations of the morality of our treatment of animals is brilliant. It is a balanced, thoughtful, provocative analysis advancing the discussion in a way that is must reading for both animal activists and those who use animals for food, research, or sport. Anyone who reads this book will forever after have their thinking changed about the moral status of animals." Robert Veatch, Director, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University

"The appropriate moral status of animals continues to pose challenges for both the policy makers and philosophers alike. David DeGrazia is one of the best and brightest of the current generation of philosophers to tackle this question, as he clearly demonstrates in this careful and lucid philosophical analysis of the issues and arguments. All those who are concerned about these issues would benefit greatly from reading this book." Andrew N. Rowan, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine

"...the book is definitely woth the time and effort to read if you are interested in the ethical foundation of the contemporary animal rights movement." Richard C. Simmonds, M.D., ASLAP Newsletter

"...this book will be helpful to all of those concerned with the well-being of all sentient beings." Animals' Agenda

From the Publisher