Papers
Wild Animal Protectorates, 2022
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In this chapter, I defend the claim that if nonhuman animals have certain basic moral rights, the... more In this chapter, I defend the claim that if nonhuman animals have certain basic moral rights, then this requires that we extend to them what I call “full political standing.” Full political standing includes legal rights, legal standing so others can bring legal suits on behalf of animals, and some form of institutionalized political representation. I argue that only if we incorporate other animals into our legal and political institutions in these ways will humans be able to effectively protect and uphold their basic moral rights. I finish by considering a few objections to extending political inclusion to other animals in these ways.
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In this essay I challenge the idea that political agency must be central to the concept of citize... more In this essay I challenge the idea that political agency must be central to the concept of citizenship. I consider this question in relation to whether or not domesticated animals can be understood as our fellow citizens. In recent debates on this topic, both proponents and opponents of animal citizenship have taken political agency to be central to this question. I advance two main arguments against this position. First, I argue against the orthodox view that claims political agency is a requirement of citizenship. This position ignores both how citizenship is understood in practice by modern, liberal democracies, as well as the separate functions of citizenship. Further, there are no plausible ways we can consistently extend citizenship to humans regardless of intellectual ability, while denying it to domesticated animals. Nevertheless, I argue that it is important to distinguish two ways in which citizenship is enacted: Citizenship as Membership and Citizenship as Responsible, Political Agent. Domesticated animals should be understood as citizens , despite the fact that they are not responsible, political agents. Second, I challenge the view, put forward by Donaldson and Kymlicka, that animals are capable of certain forms of political agency. I argue that political agency is not crucial to whether, and how, the preferences of these animals matter for political decision-making. The upshot of my argument is that political agency matters much less to debates about the citizenship of non-human animals than both sides of this debate have been inclined to think.
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Articles, Chapters & Other Writings
forthcoming..
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Thesis Chapters
Dissertation, 2018
In this dissertation, I make the case that other animals are political subjects and I offer new p... more In this dissertation, I make the case that other animals are political subjects and I offer new proposals for how we should understand the political statuses of different groups of animals. In part one I make the case that other animals should be seen as having full political standing. First, I argue that all conscious individuals have certain basic moral rights and I defend this position against various objections. Once we recognize these rights, I argue that protecting and upholding them requires extending to all conscious animals full political standing, which involves legal rights, legal standing, and some form of institutionalized political representation. In part two of my dissertation, I argue that adequately understanding our collective obligations to different groups of animals (wild, liminal, and domesticated) requires that we think about these groups as having different political statuses. I argue that political categories commonly used in the human case are a poor fit for the interests and unique relations humans have with different groups of animals. For wild and liminal animals, I argue that we need new political
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