An Introduction to Animals and Political Theory

176 Pages·2010·0.82 MB·English

by  Alasdair Cochrane (auth.)

ThePalgraveMacmillanAnimalEthicsSeries
Serieseditors:AndrewLinzeyandPriscillaCohn
Inrecentyears,therehasbeenagrowinginterestintheethicsofourtreatmentof
animals.Philosophershaveledtheway,andnowarangeofotherscholarshave
followedfromhistorianstosocialscientists.Frombeingamarginalissue,animals
havebecomeanemergingissueinethicsandinmultidisciplinaryinquiry.This
series explores the challenges that Animal Ethics poses, both conceptually and
practically,totraditionalunderstandingsofhuman–animalrelations.
Specifically,theSerieswill:
• providearangeofkeyintroductoryandadvancedtextsthatmapoutethical
positionsonanimals;
• publish pioneering work written by new, as well as accomplished, scholars;
and
• produce texts from a variety of disciplines that are multidisciplinary in
characterorhavemultidisciplinaryrelevance.
Titlesinclude:
ANINTRODUCTIONTOANIMALSANDPOLITICALTHEORY
AlasdairCochrane
Forthcomingtitles
ANIMALS,SUFFERINGANDPHILOSOPHY
ElisaAaltola
HUMANSANDANIMALS:THENEWPUBLICHEALTHPARADIGM
AyshaAkhtar
HUMANANIMALRELATIONS:THEOBLIGATIONTOCARE
MarkBernstein
ANIMALABUSEANDHUMANAGGRESSION:THESAMEORDIFFERENT
PHENOMENA?
EleonoraGullone
ANIMALSINTHECLASSICALWORLD:ETHICALPERCEPTIONS
AlastairHarden
ANIMALSUFFERINGANDTHEPROBLEMOFEVIL
NicolaHoggardCreegan
POWER,KNOWLEDGE,ANIMALS
LisaJohnson
ANIMALEXPERIMENTS:EVIDENCEANDETHICS
AndrewKnight
CRITICALANIMALSTUDIES:ANINTRODUCTION
DawneMcCance
POPULARMEDIAANDANIMALETHICS
ClaireMolloy
ANIMALS,EQUALITYANDDEMOCRACY
SiobhanO’Sullivan
SOCIALWORKANDANIMALS:AMORALINTRODUCTION
ThomasRyan
ANINTRODUCTIONTOANIMALSANDTHELAW
JoanSchaffner
UNIVERSALANIMALRIGHTS:WINNINGTHEETHICALDEBATE
DavidSztybel
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An Introduction to
Animals and Political
Theory
Alasdair Cochrane
LondonSchoolofEconomics,UK
©AlasdairCochrane2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-23925-8
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Firstpublished2010by
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Cochrane,Alasdair,1978–
Anintroductiontoanimalsandpoliticaltheory/AlasdairCochrane.
p. cm.—(ThePalgraveMacmillananimalethicsseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Animalwelfare. 2. Human–animalrelationships. I. Title.
HV4708.C632011
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19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10
Contents
SeriesPreface vi
Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction:AnimalsandPoliticalTheory 1
2 AnimalsintheHistoryofPoliticalThought 10
3 UtilitarianismandAnimals 29
4 LiberalismandAnimals 50
5 CommunitarianismandAnimals 72
6 MarxismandAnimals 93
7 FeminismandAnimals 115
8 Conclusions 136
Notes 147
Bibliography 157
Index 163
v
Series Preface
Thisisanewbookseriesforanewfieldofenquiry:AnimalEthics.
Inrecentyears,therehasbeenagrowinginterestintheethicsofour
treatment of animals. Philosophers have led the way, and now a range
ofotherscholarshavefollowedfromhistorianstosocialscientists.From
beingamarginalissue,animalshavebecomeanemergingissueinethics
andinmultidisciplinaryenquiry.
In addition, a rethink of the status of animals has been fuelled by a
rangeofscientificinvestigationswhichhaverevealedthecomplexityof
animalsentiency,cognitionandawareness.Theethicalimplicationsof
thisnewknowledgehaveyettobeproperlyevaluated,butitisbecoming
clearthattheoldviewthatanimalsaremerethings,tools,machinesor
commoditiescannotbesustainedethically.
Butitisnotonlyphilosophyandsciencethatareputtinganimalson
theagenda.Increasingly,inEuropeandtheUSA,animalsarebecoming
apoliticalissueaspoliticalpartiesvieforthe‘green’and‘animal’vote.
Inturn,politicalscientistsarebeginningtolookagainatthehistoryof
politicalthoughtinrelationtoanimals,andhistoriansarebeginningto
revisitthepoliticalhistoryofanimalprotection.
As animals grow as an issue of importance, so there have been more
collaborativeacademicventuresleadingtoconferencevolumes,special
journalissues,indeednewacademicanimaljournalsaswell.Moreover,
we have witnessed the growth of academic courses, as well as univer-
sity posts, in Animal Ethics, Animal Welfare, Animal Rights, Animal
Law, Animals and Philosophy, Human-Animal Studies, Critical Ani-
mal Studies, Animals and Society, Animals in Literature, Animals and
Religion–tangiblesignsthatanewacademicdisciplineisemerging.
‘Animal Ethics’ is the new term for the academic exploration of
the moral status of the non-human – an exploration that explicitly
involvesafocusonwhatweoweanimalsmorally,andwhichalsohelps
us to understand the influences – social, legal, cultural, religious and
political – that legitimate animal abuse. This series explores the chal-
lenges that Animal Ethics poses, both conceptually and practically, to
traditionalunderstandingsofhuman–animalrelations.
The series is needed for three reasons: (1) to provide the texts that
will service the new university courses on animals; (2) to support the
vi
SeriesPreface vii
increasing number of students studying and academics researching in
animal related fields; and (3) because there is currently no book series
thatisafocusformultidisciplinaryresearchinthefield.
Specifically,theserieswill
• providearangeofkeyintroductoryandadvancedtextsthatmapout
ethicalpositionsonanimals;
• publish pioneering work written by new, as well as accomplished,
scholars;and
• producetextsfromavarietyofdisciplinesthataremultidisciplinary
incharacterorhavemultidisciplinaryrelevance.
The new Palgrave Macmillan Series on Animal Ethics is the result of a
uniquepartnershipbetweenPalgraveMacmillanandtheFerraterMora
Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. The series is an integral part of the
missionoftheCentretoputanimalsontheintellectualagendabyfacil-
itating academic research and publication. The series is also a natural
complement to one of the Centre’s other major projects, the Journal
of Animal Ethics. The Centre is an independent ‘think tank’ for the
advancement of progressive thought about animals, and is the first
Centre of its kind in the world. It aims to demonstrate rigorous intel-
lectualenquiryandthehigheststandardsofscholarship.Itstrivestobe
aworld-classcentreofacademicexcellenceinitsfield.
We invite academics to visit the Centre’s website www.oxfordanimal
ethics.comandtocontactuswithnewbookproposalsfortheseries.
AndrewLinzeyandPriscillaN.Cohn
GeneralEditors
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all those who have helped to see this book into
publication. First of all, I would like to offer my thanks to Andrew
LinzeyandPriscillaCohnforestablishingthisexcitingseries.Theedito-
rialteamatPalgravedeservehighpraiseforhandlingthetransformation
oftheworkintoafinishedbooksosmoothly:specialthankstoPriyanka
Gibbons,MelanieBlairandDavidJoseph.Imustacknowledgetheenor-
mous debt I have to all those teachers who have helped shape my
understandingofpoliticaltheory,including:GeraintWilliams,Anthony
Arblaster, James Meadowcroft, Mike Kenny, Janet Coleman, Paul Kelly
and Cecile Fabre. I must also thank Camillia Kong for introducing me
to the work of Frances Hutcheson. I have discussed many of the ideas
in this book and its structure with Robert Garner, whose important
research on animals and political theory has been invaluable. Finally,
thankstothefriendsandfamilywhohavemotivatedmethroughout.
viii
1
Introduction: Animals and
Political Theory
Thisbookaddressesthequestionofhowpoliticalcommunitiesoughtto
governtheirrelationswithnon-humananimals.Thequestionisimpor-
tant because, quite clearly, all political communities must take some
position over how animals in their society ought to be treated.1 After
all, each and every political community has important social interac-
tions with animals, whether those animals are companions, modes of
transport, sources of awe, labourers, gods, food sources or simply part
of a shared environment. Political communities have to make impor-
tant decisions about whether those interactions should be regulated,
how, for what reasons and for what ends. And, of course, all political
communities do make such decisions. The past few years, for example,
have seen a number of interesting developments. In 2007, the Ani-
mal Welfare Act came into force in England and Wales. Often referred
to as a ‘Bill of Rights for Animals’, the Act introduced tougher fines
for animal cruelty and granted greater powers of intervention to the
RSPCA. Crucially, the Act also altered the legal obligations of own-
ers of animals in a significant way: owners in England and Wales no
longersimplyhavetorefrainfromactingcruellytowardstheiranimals,
but are also legally obliged to take positive steps to ensure that their
animals are well housed, free from pain and able to express normal
behaviour.2Ayearlater,in2008,theSpanishparliamentapprovedreso-
lutionsrecommendingtheenactmentoflegislationwhichwouldassign
togreatapestherightnottobetortured,therighttolifeandtheright
to freedom. Some commentators dubbed this step as essentially entail-
ing a parliamentary recommendation of the award of human rights to
suchanimals.3Anotheryearon,inthesummerof2009,Chineselawyers
begantakingtheinitialtentativestepsindrawingupChina’sveryfirst
piece of animal welfare legislation. Currently animals that are sold as
1