The Animal Rights Debate: Abolition or Regulation?

289 Pages·2010·1.88 MB·English

by  Gary L. Francione

The Animal Rights Debate
Critical Perspectives on Animals
THEORY, CULTURE, SCIENCE, AND LAW
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Critical Perspectives on Animals
Series Editors: Gary L. Francione and Gary Steiner
The emerging interdisciplinary field of animal studies seeks to
shed light on the nature of animal experience and the moral status
of animals in ways that overcome the limitations of traditional
approaches to animals. Recent work on animals has been charac-
terized by an increasing recognition of the importance of crossing
disciplinary boundaries and exploring the affinities as well as the
differences among the approaches of fields such as philosophy,
law, sociology, political theory, ethology, and literary studies to ques-
tions pertaining to animals. This recognition has brought with it an
openness to a rethinking of the very terms of critical inquiry and of
traditional assumptions about human being and its relationship to
the animal world. The books published in this series seek to con-
tribute to contemporary reflections on the basic terms and meth-
ods of critical inquiry, to do so by focusing on fundamental ques-
tions arising out of the relationships and confrontations between
humans and nonhuman animals, and ultimately to enrich our
appreciation of the nature and ethical significance of nonhuman
animals by providing a forum for the interdisciplinary exploration
of questions and problems that have traditionally been confined
within narrowly circumscribed disciplinary boundaries.
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The
Animal
Rights
Debate
Abolition or Regulation?
Gary L. Francione
and Robert Garner
Columbia
University
Press
New York
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Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2010 Gary L. Francione and Robert Garner
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Francione, Gary L. (Gary Lawrence), 1954–
The animal rights debate : abolition of regulation? / Gary L. Francione and
Robert Garner
p. cm.—(Critical perspectives on animals)
Inclues bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-14954-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-14955-6 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-52669-2 (e-book)
1. Animal rights. 2. Animal welfare. I. Garner, Robert, 1960– II. Title. III. Series.
HV4708.F727 2010
179'.3—dc22 210010202
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
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For Anna, in gratitude for her love and inspiration, and
for Simon, a blind dog who was slated to be killed at a local
shelter and whom we adopted. He was a brave boy,
a great privilege to have as a member of our family,
and an absolute joy to love.
To Filza—Thank you for your patience and love.
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Contents
Introduction: What This Book Is and Is Not About | ix
1
The Abolition of Animal Exploitation | 1
Gary L. Francione
2
A Defense of a Broad Animal Protectionism | 103
Robert Garner
3
A Discussion Between Francione and Garner | 175
Index of Proper Names and Organizations | 271
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Introduction
What This Book Is and Is Not About
This book does not involve a debate about whether
humans should regard nonhuman animals as mem-
bers of the moral community deserving of at least some
legal protection or, instead, as mere things to which humans
do not have any direct moral obligations. On this point, there
is not much to debate. Most people accept that animals are
at least partial members of the moral community and that
we may use animals for human purposes; they believe it is
morally wrong to inflict “unnecessary” harm on animals
or to treat them in ways that are not considered “humane.”
This position is known as the animal welfare view, and it is
reflected in anticruelty statutes and other laws that impose
a legal obligation to treat animals “humanely.” Yes, there
are people who still defend the view that animals simply
do not matter at all and that nothing we do to them raises a
moral issue or should raise a legal issue. But there are peo-
ple who defend the view that the earth is flat. The moral and
legal significance of nonhuman animals is a settled matter.
This is also not a book about whether to defend the sta-
tus quo with respect to animal use and treatment. Although
we claim to take animal interests seriously and to include
animals in the moral and legal community to some limited
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