Posted on 12/16/2014 11:01:01 AM PST by Kaslin
What if domestic animals — pets such as dogs and cats as well livestock like cows and chickens — were granted citizenship rights? That may sound like a crazy question, but Canadian philosopher Will Kymlicka thinks it's a critically important one.
Kymlicka, a professor at Queen's University, is a well-regarded figure in modern political philosophy. He's also the author, along with writer Sue Donaldson, of Zoopolis, a book making the case for animal citizenship. Their basic premise is simple: animals are already part of our society, as pets and work animals, therefore we should formally recognize them as such.
That's not just a head-in-the-clouds thought experiment. We already have basic laws forbidding animal abuse and regulating industrial slaughterhouses. But, as anyone who has visited an animal shelter or thought about the ethics of what they eat can attest, we as a society have not come anywhere close to solving the problem of animal mistreatment. If we really want to improve animals' lives, Kymlicka and Donaldson argue, we need to stop thinking in terms of merely treating animals better. Rather, we need to acknowledge on a fundamental level that animals are a part of society and deserve to be treated as such. That leads you, however improbable it might sound, to citizenship.
Kymlicka and I chatted over the phone about why he believes we ought to make animals citizens, how that would work in practice, and what a world in which animals have equal rights would look like. What follows is a transcript of our conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Zack Beauchamp: The idea of animal citizenship sounds a bit strange. What does it mean for a dog to be a citizen? What rights do they get?
Will Kymlicka: The first idea is that we've brought dogs and other domesticated animals into our society. That's a decision we have made — to domesticate animals — and the very term domestication indicates that's process of incorporating them into our world. So we need to ask: what do we owe them in virtue of the fact that we've brought them into our world?
We owe them membership. We need to recognize domesticated animals as members of our society. And citizenship is the legal and political term that we have historically used to recognize membership. The ways in which humans stake claims to membership is by staking claims to citizenship. It's our legal and political tool for recognizing it.
But they will vote conservative.
Actually it is.
Just when you think the title of “professor” cannot be demeaned any further.
We really, REALLY need different titles for those possessing real degrees.
100% of PETA nuts, animal rights nuts and vegans agree.
They can’t vote, they can’t take an oath of loyalty, they can’t attest that they even know what country they are in, much less what the laws are.
So, no, it’s not even remotely possible that they can fulfill the duties of citizenship. I suppose we could draft them...
Just, don’t. Vox’s business model is to put out click-bait headlines.
They’re trolling you.
On purpose.
Just ignore them.
Hoooowwwwwlllll !
Can the right to arm bears be far behind?
No.
Dogs have the right of free speech.
This makes sense, if as the number of dog animals become citizens, an equal number of other animals lose their citizenship. For the latter, there are many deserving - looters and moochers and the like.
All part of the eventual “marry your pet” campaign.
What about kittehs? Too busy napping?
This is nothing more than an exercise in semantics by a bored philosopher.
Rodents will vote RAT. DummyRAT.
No one told him that Animal Farm was meant to be metaphoric!
A German Shepherd has the IQ of a three year old child.
People and their pets..yuck. Nobody has children anymore, they all have dogs to whom they give human names and even wheel around in strollers. It’s not all only nutty ladies - I have seen grown men carrying around a dog strapped to their chest in one of those infant carriers, or pushing a stroller with a couple of dogs in it.
Pets are pets. They’re fun, nice to have around to explain mysterious creakings in your house when you’re there alone...still, they are not human beings. But the liberals are so lonely and self-obsessed that they believe Poochy is listening to their every word and is the only one who really understands them. (That’s why the most common injury for dogs in Sweden is sexual injuries...from human beings.)
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