TEXTS & REFERENCES

Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility 

by Martha C Nussbaum / review by Rohan Silva

How did we became the tyrants of the animal kingdom?

A scholarly look at how badly we treat other species employs moral principles to shame us into acknowledging their rights.

American philosopher Martha C Nussbaum argues in her sober and sobering new book that our treatment of animals  is a moral crime on a monumental scale.

To make her scholarly case, Nussbaum points to the “barbarous cruelties of the factory meat industry”, “habitat destruction” and “pollution of the air and seas” – but casts the ethical net even more widely to ensnare all of us who “dwell in areas in which elephants and bears once roamed” or “live in high-rise buildings that spell death for migratory birds”. We’re all complicit, she argues, no matter how right-on we think we are – and we have “a long overdue ethical debt” to work off. (...) For her, the original philosophical sin is the idea that animals are “dumb beasts… automata without a subjective view of the world”. The latest scientific research reveals that the opposite is true: “all vertebrates feel pain subjectively”, many animals “experience emotions like compassion and grief” and display “complicated social learning”.

Her vision is a global legislative framework that acknowledges and protects animal rights, but she understands full well this won’t happen overnight. “The world’s legal systems are in a primitive condition,” she writes. (...)

Ideas matter. If we’re to have any hope of resetting our abusive relationship with the natural world, a foundational shift in our moral philosophy may be essential. Or as Nussbaum puts it: “The remedy really requires the evolving consciousness of humanity.” A daunting prospect, but Justice for Animals is a timely and weighty reminder that a positive future is possible and worth fighting for.

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Deep Ecology

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How can I live a life, that is good for me, for others and sustainable for the planet?

Trying to answer this question can lead to profound changes in our way of being, moving from a vision of ‘separate individuals’ to seeing ourselves as an integral partof a whole. A paradigm shift that can make a difference in protecting the ecosystems and general well-being.

Arne Naess

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A homeostasia e as raízes biológicas das culturas