Rationality and Nonhuman Animal Rights

Abstract

During my graduate studies at Colorado State University, I enthusiastically enrolled in a Nonhuman Animal rights philosophy seminar in the hopes of broadening my sociological knowledge of Nonhuman Animal issues in preparation for my upcoming dissertation work. In this course, we explored ethical theories and the various weak justifications employed to defend the human exploitation of other animals. We debated the role of cognition, capacity for suffering, and death as harm. We deconstructed the immorality of vivisection, speciesist agricultural systems, and exploitative relationships with companion animals. In short, we were taught that Nonhuman Animals matter.