ALL THAT DWELL THEREIN: Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics

by Tom Regan ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1982

Regan, who co-edited with Peter Singer an anthology on animal rights, here collects his own papers on the subject, many of them taking issue with Singer--or, on different points, with other philosophers in the field. His aim is to establish a moral basis for vegetarianism, and against such practices as whaling and laboratory experimentation, on the basis of animal rights; his major thrust is to demonstrate that if all humans have basic moral rights, so at least do some animals. Regan rejects the utilitarian approach of Singer and others and the attributes of sentience and interests as criteria for consideration of animals; by the end of the book, he has extended his argument based on the inherent value of individuals to all of nature, maintaining a position he calls ""deep ecology"" as opposed to the ""shallow environmentalism"" of utilitarians and others who argue a ""management ethic"" (the wise stewardship of natural resources for human benefit) or a ""kinship ethic"" (extending the consideration due humans to sentient non-humans). With chapter titles such as ""An Examination and Defense of One Argument Concerning Animal Rights,"" with references to further debate in various philosophy journals, with serious consideration of such concepts as ""the inherent goodness of a good car,"" and with none of the political applications of Mason and Singer's Animal Factories or the factual description of factory farms and animal laboratories publicized in Singer's Animal Liberation, this collection aimed at a popular audience will be limited to readers with a tolerance for traditional reasoning processes and an interest in philosophical first things. (Or, more accurately, second things--Regan takes the existence of human rights as a starting point.) As chief spokesman for a major position in the growing animal rights movement, Regan should find that audience.

Pub Date: April 1, 1982

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Univ. of California Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1982

Categories: NONFICTION