Abstract
In his chapter, Kim Stallwood claims that, notwithstanding formidable challenges to accomplishing its mission to free all species from the subjugation of one, the nonhuman animal rights movement is making progress with what can be viewed as short-term victories. However, in the long term, it is failing generally and significantly to decrease the number of nonhuman animals consumed, persuade sufficient numbers of people to go vegan, convince governments to pass meaningful animal protection legislation, and challenge fundamentally society’s attitudes towards other animals. Stallwood contends that establishing moral and legal rights for nonhuman animals is currently beyond the reach of the present nonhuman animal rights movement. Despite this, Stallwood proposes five stages for the movement to progress through to achieve its mission.
I wish to express my appreciation for the advice and professional assistance of Jill Howard Church in the writing of this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” is widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, but it is not found in his works.
- 2.
Richard D. Ryder is attributed to first defining “speciesism” as a word.
- 3.
“A mixture of compromise and concealment has so far prevented this conflict from having to be fully resolved. But the issue cannot be completely evaded and it can be relied upon to recur. It is one of the contradictions upon which modern civilisation may be said to rest. About its ultimate consequences we can only speculate” (Thomas, 1983, p.303).
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Stallwood, K. (2017). Are We Smart Enough to Know When to Take the Political Turn for Animals?. In: Woodhall, A., Garmendia da Trindade, G. (eds) Ethical and Political Approaches to Nonhuman Animal Issues. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54549-3_12
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