Beyond Animal Rights: Food, Pets and Ethics

Description

Issues to do with animal ethics remain at the heart of public debate. In Beyond Animal Rights, Tony Milligan goes beyond standard discussions of animal ethics to explore the ways in which we personally relate to other creatures through our diet, as pet owners and as beneficiaries of experimentation. The book connects with our duty to act and considers why previous discussions have failed to result in a change in the way that we live our lives. The author asks a crucial question: what sort of people do we have to become if we are to sufficiently improve the ways in which we relate to the non-human? Appealing to both consequences and character, he argues that no improvement will be sufficient if it fails to set humans on a path towards a tolerable and sustainable future. Focussing on our direct relations to the animals we connect with the book offers guidance on all the relevant issues, including veganism and vegetarianism, the organic movement, pet ownership, and animal experimentation.

Tony Milligan is an Honorary Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen, UK. He has published in a number of academic and popular journals, including Philosophy, Ratio, the Journal of Applied Ethics, Think and Philosophy Now.

"Beyond Animal Rights is a fine book: a wide-ranging and sensitive discussion of the ethical considerations which apply when humans deal with animals. The author makes powerful use of statistics, but is not afraid to appeal to our moral intuitions." - Elizabeth Telfer, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Philosophy, University of Glasgow, UK "Beyond Animal Rights is a very important book. In his thoughtful discussion of how we interact with other animals including who we choose to eat - not what we choose to eat - Tony Milligan considers a wide variety of arguments used to justify meat-eating, for the most part an unnecessary habit that brings untold suffering to millions of innocent animals. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Dr. Milligan, this well-argued book will force readers to think more about the sentient creatures who they pop into their mouths at the end of a fork." - Marc Bekoff, University of Colorado, USA; author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, and The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint 'A nuanced and considered philosophical tract regarding our diet, animal experimentation and our proclivity for keeping pets... a thought-provoking entry into an important ongoing debate that affects us all.' -- Morning Star Milligan's book is original and a little provocative in the way he presents his topic... a welcome broadening of the debate. -- Ethical Perspectives 18, no.2 ... worthwhile reading whatever dietary practice you subscribe to... [Milligan's] clear and well-argued writing makes for enjoyable and thoughtful reading. -- Animal Welfare: The UFAW Journal, Volume 20/ Issue 4 Milligan's book is well written and presents a convincing set of arguments for his case. While he is clear at the outset of the book that he writes as a vegan, his arguments both for and against the positions he adopts are nevertheless both comprehensive and fair. The book is written in an accessible style with complex theoretical arguments conveyed clearly and comprehensively. Milligan provides an interesting and informative examination of the topics covered in a manner that will appeal to both animal ethicists and those without a theoretical background alike. -- Political Studies Review Vol. 10