Overview

"Richard Ryder created the term speciesism in early 1970 and shared the idea with Peter Singer, who popularised it in his classic work ""Animal Liberation"" (1975). A key figure in the modern animal rights revival Ryder appeared on the first-ever televised discussion of animal rights (""The Lion's Share"" Scottish Television) in December 1970. He further promoted the ideas around speciesism in recorded discussions with Bridget Brophy, for the Open University, and in his contribution to the seminal philosophical work ""Animals Men and Morals"" edited by the Oxford philosophers Stanley and Roslind Godlovitch and John Harris in 1971. From 1969 Ryder organised protests against animal experiments and bloodsports. He continued to promote his ideas about speciesism in leaflets and broadcasts, culminating in the publication of his ""Victims of Science"" in 1975 - a book that provoked debates in Parliament and on television and was described by ""The Spectator"" at the time as ""a morally and historically important book"". Dr Ryder was elected to the RSPCA Council in 1971, first becoming Chairman in 1977. In 1980 he was founding Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Animal Protection Group, and later ran for Parliament, was Director of the Political Animal Lobby and then Mellon Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Tulane University. Ryder coined the term painism to describe his wider moral theory in 1990. He has several times broadcast on the BBC's ""Moral Maze""."

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9781845402358

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Speciesism is a prejudice like racism or sexism, only applied to our attitude to other animals. It sees humans as superior to all other species, and it sees glamorous rare animals as superior to common ones. But to the zoologist every living species is the fascinating end-point of millions of years of evolution and deserves our respect. I care as much about pigeons as I do about pandas, as much about sparrows as I do about sperm whales. Painism is not a little different. Ryder fashioned this one more recently, and it names his home-grown moral theory. There's a lot of ambition here. Painism is said to be the account the modern world needs. It challenges utilitarianism and democracy , improves on its main rivals, creates a fresh and unified moral outlook . Times Higher Education. -- Desmond Morris

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