Animal ethics and the political

Alasdair Cochrane, Robert Garner and Siobhan O’Sullivan, ‘Animal Ethics and the Political’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2016

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This article tries to set out the parameters of the political turn by showing how work in this field differs from traditional moral philosophy. It argues that a genuine political turn in animal ethics requires not only distinctiveness but also a unified thread in terms of shared assumptions, normative commitments, methods or approaches. It concludes that all political turn texts focus on justice since they seek to explore how political institutions, structures and processes much be transformed to better serve the interests of animals. The stress on justice can be contrasted with the traditional animal ethics emphasis on the moral realm. Whereas the latter focuses on the individual, the former’s raison d’être is the state or broader political authority whose role is to enforce the principles of justice. - ROBERT GARNER