Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions - Cass R. Sunstein, Martha C. Nussbaum

Written by Cass R. Sunstein, Martha C. Nussbaum
Format: MP3

Cass Sunstein and Martha Nussbaum bring together an all-star cast of contributors to explore the legal and political issues that underlie the campaign for animal rights and the opposition to it. Addressing ethical questions about ownership, protection against unjustified suffering, and the ability of animals to make their own choices free from human control, the authors offer numerous different perspectives on animal rights and animal welfare. They show that whatever one’s ultimate conclusions, the relationship between human beings and nonhuman animals is being fundamentally rethought. This book offers a state-of-the-art treatment of that rethinking.

Cass R. Sunstein is Karl Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago and Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Together, they previously edited Clones and Cloning. They are frequent contributors to popular journals and newspapers. Sunstein’s recent books include Why Societies Need Dissent and Designing Democracy; Nussbaum is recently author of Upheavals of Thought and For Love of Country.

If you are a thoughtful person in any way curious about animal rights - how different thinkers define and conceptualize the issue, debates within the animal rights movement, and the debate between those who favor increasing rights for animals and those that do not - this book is the best possible place to begin attempting to understand this fascinating and complex issue. With the notable exception of the absence of Tom Regan, almost everyone that has said anything important about animal rights (pro or con) in the past several decades is here. Well known scholars like Martha Nussbaum, Peter Singer, Cass Sunstein, and Catherine McKinnon share the spotlight with gems of essays by lesser known scholars like Gary Francione and Elizabeth Anderson. Maybe this book will inspire you to become vegan. Maybe it will make you realize that the idea of animals rights is something you don’t fully agree with. In any event, after reading this book your thinking on these issues will be clearer. The book is a joy to read.