ABSTRACT

This chapater aims to to explore animal ethics specifically. Serious moral reflection about animals should begin by acknowledging this mismatch between our interests and the interests of animals. It may turn out, of course, that there is nothing wrong about the way that we use nonhuman animals. As Tom Regan makes amply clear, the rights view calls for the complete and immediate end of animal agriculture—industrial or small scale, humane or cruel. In the 1990s, ecofeminists worked to remedy a perceived problem in feminist theory, animal advocacy, and environmentalism, namely, a lack of attention to the intersecting structures of power that reinforce the “othering” of women and animals, and contribute to the increasing destruction of the environment. At least with respect to animals, contractualism is usually framed as the more modest alternative. The rights view calls for an end to animal experimentation, as well as keeping animals captive in circuses and most zoos.