"Linking animal ethics and animal welfare science" by Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka

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Citation

Donaldson, Sue and Kymlicka, Will (2016) Linking animal ethics and animal welfare science. Animal Sentience 5(5)

Author Website

http://post.queensu.ca/~kymlicka/

Commentary Type

Invited Commentary

Thread

Donald M. Broom, Considering animals’ feelings: Précis of Sentience and animal welfare (Broom 2014)

Abstract

Broom (2014) argues that theories of animal ethics need to be better informed by the findings of animal welfare science. We agree, but argue that animal welfare science in turn may need to ask different questions. To date it has largely assumed that society will continue to treat domesticated animals as a caste group that exists to serve us, and that animal welfare is to be improved within that legal and political framework. We offer an alternative model of human-animal relations, and discuss what kind of animal welfare science it would require.

Author Biography

Sue Donaldson cliffehanger@sympatico.ca is an independent researcher and writer. She is co-author, with Will Kymlicka, of Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights (Oxford University Press, 2011). Their most recent work is "Farmed Animal Sanctuaries: The Heart of the Movement? A socio-political perspective." Sue is also a co-founder of Queen's Animal Defence, an advocacy group working for interspecies social justice. http://queensanimaldefence.org

Will Kymlicka kymlicka@queensu.ca is Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. His current research focuses on “The Frontiers of Citizenship,” and in particular on struggles to extend norms and practices of citizenship to historically excluded groups, ranging from children and people with intellectual disabilities to indigenous peoples and animals.

http://post.queensu.ca/~kymlicka/