Overview

How we treat animals arouses strong emotions. Many people are repulsed by photographs of cruelty to animals and respond passionately to how we make animals suffer for food, commerce, and sport. But is this, as some argue, a purely emotional issue? Are there really no rational grounds for opposing our current treatment of animals?In Why Animal Suffering Matters, Andrew Linzey argues that when analyzed impartially the rational case for extending moral solicitude to all sentient beings is much stronger than many suppose. Indeed, Linzey shows that many of the justifications for inflicting animal suffering in fact provide grounds for protecting them. Because animals, the argument goes, lack reason or souls or language, harming them is not an offense. Linzey suggests that just the opposite is true, that the inability of animals to give or withhold consent, their inability to represent their interests, their moral innocence, and their relative defenselessness all compel us not to harm them.Andrew Linzey further shows that the arguments in favor of three controversial practices--hunting with dogs, fur farming, and commercial sealing--cannot withstand rational critique. He considers the economic, legal, and political issues surrounding each of these practices, appealing not to our emotions but to our reason, and shows that they are rationally unsupportable and morally repugnant.In this superbly argued and deeply engaging book, Linzey pioneers a new theory about why animal suffering matters, maintaining that sentient animals, like infants and young children, should be accorded a special moral status.

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9780199351848

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Reviews

<br> [Linzey] brings fresh eyes to the tradition, discovers in it unexpected resources, and breathes new life into doctrines that have come to seem antiquated. --Commonweal<p><br> Although a theologian, Linzey is clearly learned in moral philosophy. This ensures that a non-religious reader...does not feel excluded...Linzey's book provides a fine introduction to why animal suffering matters. It could, and arguably should, be utilised by universities, schools, and laypeople alike. --Times Higher Education<p><br> A very compelling philosophical argument for the case for extending moral solicitude to all sentient beings...Far from being sentimental, [Linzey] demonstrates that a real concern for animals can be part of a radical expression of Christian faith. --Independent Catholic News<p><br> Argues compellingly that concern for animals (chiefly mammals and birds) is not merely an emotional matter, but, rather, one that has firm rational basis, with concrete implications for human practice and social policy...The overall quality of the book...is excellent. Its seamless wedding of moral theorizing, cultural criticism, and political analysis is a paradigmatic example of how practical ethics ought to be done, and the power it might have in helping to change ideas and institutions. --Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture<p><br> The book is philosophically sophisticated without being excessively abstruse. It also engages in a serious way with what Christian thinkers and holy texts have said about animals, but without appearing relevant only to those who are committed Christians. It will thus appeal to a very wide range of readers...Linzey's book is a treat. It is written in a smooth and accessible style, and his arguments are, on the whole, lucid and powerful...Why Animal Suffering Matters matters. It is a smart, sensitive book from which academics and non-academics, philosophers and non-philosophers, the religious and the non-religious, and those with pas

Author Information

Andrew Linzey is Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a Member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. He is the author of Animal Theology, Creatures of the Same God and Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care.

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