Ethics and animals: an introduction by Lori Gruen

Ethics and animals: an introduction Reviews

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  Lexidreams

  I think the section on animal testing is the strongest but she covers many other areas including captivity, factory farms, environmental degradation etc. I found the short history of animal welfare legislation in the US fascinating. It makes sense that the US Animal Welfare Act would begin with human's love for companion animals.
  There are also small sections throughout which discuss ethics in that philosophical way which if you've ever read any animal rights ethics (eg. Tom Regan) is kind of dry and will mostly be a rehash for those not new to the genre.
  In some sections I felt like her arguments weren't fully formed. For example, in her chapter on captivity she doesn't really specifically explain the differences between zoos and sanctuaries which make one more ethical than the other. (I absolutely believe sanctuaries, that is legitimate ones, are more ethical, but her conclusion doesn't flow exactly from what's presented.)
  I found just a few paragraphs to be bordering on speciesist, but Gruen does present pro-exploitative points of view here and there for challenging, including bits where small 'humane' farms are romanticized a bit too much for comfort. If I'm remembering correctly, there are a few places where she accepts that nonhuman animals may be worth less than humans in terms of moral consideration because they lack a sense of 'I' and may not have 'concepts'. I will hopefully read more ethology in the future but I find such discourses ridiculous. Animals have desires, interests and aversions. How can they choose that they would like something (eg. a dog wanting their frisbee out of the water, a cat suddenly becoming fascinated with a cracker) if they do not associate desirable or adverse characteristics with it? And do people really believe an animal cannot differentiate their own body from their surroundings?
  Overall, it is certainly a pro-animal rights book and a good intro read.
  
  
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  Laurie

  This invaluable book clarified my thinking on ethics and animals. Gruen's writing style is clear and compelling. This book covers the ethics of various kinds of human-animal interactions, particularly the ways in which humans exploit animals.
  
  Read as part of M.A. in Animal Studies.
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  Jordan

  My new favourite book on animal ethics
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  Martin Rowe

  This is an admirably clear and instructive introduction to the philosophy and practical problems (and some solutions) surrounding our interaction with other animals. Gruen runs through the usual suspects (utilitarianism, rights, as well as ethic-of-care feminism) and outlines the issues surrounding animals in captivity, animals used for research and food, and companion and wild animals, with a final segment on activism. Her book is marked by an attention to our current knowledge of animal cognition and hefty doses of natural science, as well as a welcome insistence on specificities and context rather than high-flown pronouncements and unimpeachable but impracticable theory. Her tone is wry and humane—no magisterial denunciations for her—and she is acutely aware of the challenges we all have in balancing human and animal interests in a world defined by human activity and animal endangerment. The book could have been longer, with perhaps more case studies, and I, for one, remain unimpressed by data that show that animals are smarter than we think they are (as if that should matter in how we treat them). But Gruen's is nonetheless one of the most readable introductions to animal ethics I've come across in two decades of immersion in this subject.
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  pattrice

  Essential antidote to the ungrounded theorizing of the male philosophers whose abstract idea(l)s have inhibited rather than facilitated effective animal liberation activism.
  
  Don't be fooled by the textbook tone. While the book will work beautifully as an exceptionally engaging college textbook, Gruen is (as usual) up to something much more subtly powerful than laying out the usual arguments in terms that students can understand. She covers virtually every ethical question concerning human-animal relations, not only answering common challenges in ways that animal advocates may find helpful to model but also and most importantly including the (eco)feminist perspectives that you don't even know exist if you've been reading Singer, Reagan, and Francione. These tend, on the whole, to destabilize the false dichotomies underlying socially constructed dilemmas, thereby clearing the way for creative solutions.
  
  Clear thinking and what Gruen calls "engaged empathy" -- that's exactly what the animal liberation movement needs right now. I feel so strongly about that that my organization (VINE Sanctuary) is going to start carrying this book in addition to those in which I've got chapters.
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  Kristen

  Gruen has a gift for making nuanced ethical arguments easily accessible. As an animal advocate, I found this book extremely helpful as a guide to frame and extend my more intuitive approach to thinking about animals, animal rights and my personal engagement with animals. The vivid illustrative scenes that situate the reader in each chapter really ground the philosophical discussion, never allowing it to veer off into intellectual abstraction. It is not a difficult book to read. In fact, I found it very engaging. It can be demanding, though, only in that it really challenges you to consider your ethical stance towards animals in a variety of situations that are not always comfortable to consider. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking an intelligent, comprehensive and eminently readable introduction to ethics and animals.
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  Joshua Duffy

  Fantastic (albeit biased; but not in a horrible way [I'm biased too in this area!]) introduction to Animal Ethics. The book was well laid out and the theoretical chapters especially so. A much needed chapter on activism rounded out the book which was very helpful in clarifying where one should stand if actively engaging in this movement.
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  Kobie Spriggs

  Awesome philosophical approaches to The justification of animals and their moral consideration. One of my favorites.
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  Heather Browning

  This seems like it would be a really useful reference to use in teaching - the chapters provide good overviews of various topics in animal ethics, rather than arguing for specific positions, and would be a good entry point on a lot of these ideas.