About this episode

The episode discusses the political rights of animals and the need for a transformative approach to coexistence with them.

For millennia, animals have been treated as property or passive recipients of moral concern rather than as political beings with agency. Political philosophers Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, authors of Animals and the Right to Politics , argue that decades of research reveals that animals are members of complex political societies capable of negotiation, cooperation, and collective decision-making. We explore what it would mean to recognize animals' political rights and build a meaningful politics with animals, and why that requires transforming our laws, institutions, and everyday relationships with animals from violence and domination toward coexistence. Highlights include: Why we need to move beyond the idea of the "minimal animal," which focuses on the animal's capacity to suffer or engage in species-specific behaviors, toward the "maximal animal" recognized as an agent with personality, culture, and political capacities; Why we must learn to elicit and be responsive to animals' needs and wants - their political communication - and not assume that humans can represent animals' interests easily and accurately; Why animal politics requires attending not only to animals'…

People in this episode

Guests: Sue Donaldson, Will Kymlicka

Topics covered

• animal rights
• political philosophy
• coexistence
• animal agency
• collective decision-making
• animal ethics

Keywords

• animals
• politics
• rights
• cooperation
• domination
• communication
• ethics

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Animals and the Right to Politics

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