Een kwestie van gevoel

Filosofen hebben tal van theorieën ontwikkeld over hoe mensen met dieren om zouden moeten gaan. Maar welke van deze visies raken je en waarom? Is dat niet een kwestie van gevoel? En welke sentimenten doen er eigenlijk toe

Being with other animals: Transitioning toward sustainable food futures

How do non-human animals (hereafter animals) fit into sustainable food futures? This question prompts ethical reflection. However, especially in times of transformative change, one should not overlook ontological assumptions before engaging in ethics. We follow up on the work of the late Australian philosopher Val Plumwood as she prominently made this move to the ontological level when considering the edibility of animals. As she invites one (1) to listen to animals as well as (2) to embody one's own edibility, salient ontological assumptions about how humans relate to other animals, and the rest of reality, rise to the surface. While Plumwood also developed a modest ethical framework to address animal edibility, her ontological approach is highlighted here, especially as it appears to point toward moral relativism. Plumwood's ontological approach is further developed, notably by unraveling the dualism between self and other. Doing so results in a more non-conceptual way of relating to other animals. As a genuinely interdependent way of engaging with reality, it appears most relevant to considering what role animals might have in sustainable food futures

Know your animal: Knowing animals within veterinary scientific education

What does it take to know nonhuman animals? In this essay, we explore diverse ways of knowing animals in veterinary education, bringing out biases and preconceptions that determine not only which animals are known, but also how they are known. Contemplative pedagogy engenders a more holistic way of knowing by fostering one’s ability to be truly present with others

Being with other animals: transitioning toward sustainable food futures

How do non-human animals (hereafter animals) fit into sustainable food futures? This question prompts ethical reflection. However, especially in times of transformative change, one should not overlook ontological assumptions before engaging in ethics. We follow up on the work of the late Australian philosopher Val Plumwood as she prominently made this move to the ontological level when considering the edibility of animals. As she invites one (1) to listen to animals as well as (2) to embody one's own edibility, salient ontological assumptions about how humans relate to other animals, and the rest of reality, rise to the surface. While Plumwood also developed a modest ethical framework to address animal edibility, her ontological approach is highlighted here, especially as it appears to point toward moral relativism. Plumwood's ontological approach is further developed, notably by unraveling the dualism between self and other. Doing so results in a more non-conceptual way of relating to other animals. As a genuinely interdependent way of engaging with reality, it appears most relevant to considering what role animals might have in sustainable food futures

Aging Gracefully: Compassion for Nonhuman Animal Elders

Many nonhuman animals (hereafter animals) grow old within zoos. Aging ani- mals undergo innumerable bodily and mental changes, some of which lead to suffering and keep them from flourishing while others move them towards other roles, opportunities, and standing. Those who take care of aging animals are con- fronted with various moral considerations of what it takes to care for these ani- mals. Increased human intervention in the later stages of the lives of animals can make it more difficult to find one’s bearings. Conspecifics in the wild gradually become less of a guide for shaping the lives of geriatric animals in confined spaces. Perhaps to take care is to be responsive to the individual animal, both to understand how they have been shaped by living their lives within a zoo and to explore and make available ways for them to continue to exert agency over the later stages of their lives. Moral deliberation helps to engage with the moral issues of taking care. Compassion comprises a vital part of moral deliberation and appears especially promising to care for animals in the later stages of their lives

Het Antropoceen en de dieren ertussenin

Het Antropoceen is paradoxaal: het stelt de invloed van de mensheid centraal in een tijdperk waarin nieuwe inzichten de unieke positie van de mens juist ter discussie stellen. Een fi losofi e van het Antropoceen vraagt daarom om een herpositionering. Niet-menselijke dieren zijn hierin onmisbaar. Welke dieren? Niet de usual suspects, maar juist de ‘liminale dieren’ die ontsnappen aan de moderne tweedeling tussen cultuur en natuur

Het Antropoceen en de dieren ertussenin

Het Antropoceen is paradoxaal: het stelt de invloed van de mensheid centraal in een tijdperk waarin nieuwe inzichten de unieke positie van de mens juist ter discussie stellen. Een fi losofi e van het Antropoceen vraagt daarom om een herpositionering. Niet-menselijke dieren zijn hierin onmisbaar. Welke dieren? Niet de usual suspects, maar juist de ‘liminale dieren’ die ontsnappen aan de moderne tweedeling tussen cultuur en natuur

Het Antropoceen en de dieren ertussenin

Het Antropoceen is paradoxaal: het stelt de invloed van de mensheid centraal in een tijdperk waarin nieuwe inzichten de unieke positie van de mens juist ter discussie stellen. Een fi losofi e van het Antropoceen vraagt daarom om een herpositionering. Niet-menselijke dieren zijn hierin onmisbaar. Welke dieren? Niet de usual suspects, maar juist de ‘liminale dieren’ die ontsnappen aan de moderne tweedeling tussen cultuur en natuur

Een kwestie van gevoel

Filosofen hebben tal van theorieën ontwikkeld over hoe mensen met dieren om zouden moeten gaan. Maar welke van deze visies raken je en waarom? Is dat niet een kwestie van gevoel? En welke sentimenten doen er eigenlijk toe

“Eek! a rat!”

Rats are often despised. In what way does such aversion affect moral deliberation, and if so, how should we accommodate any distorting effects on our normative judgements? These questions are explored in this chapter with regard to recent proposals in (1) the ethics of pest management and (2) animal political theory. While ethical frameworks and tools used in the context of animal research can improve moral deliberation with regard to pest management, we argue based on psychological factors regarding the perception of rats that before implementing these methods in either animal research or pest management, one needs to ascertain that rats are owed genuine moral consideration. With regard to animal political theory, we identify three issues: truth-aptness, perception, and moral motivation. To complement as well as address some of the issues found in both animal research ethics and animal political theory, we explore compassion. Starting from compassion, we develop a pragmatist and interspecies understanding of morality, including a shift from an anthropocentric to a multispecies epistemology, and a distributed rather than an individual notion of moral agency. We need to engage with the experience of others, including rats and those who perceive these animals as pests, as well as pay attention to the specific way individual agents are embedded in particular socio-ecological settings so as to promote compassionate action