Theory of Justice for Animals: animal rights in a non-ideal world

Robert Garner, A Theory of Justice for Animals: animal rights in a non-ideal world (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013)

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Garner’s book focuses on the contribution that political pragmatism can make to the animal ethics debate. He seeks to employ the distinction between ideal and non-ideal theory, current within political philosophy, to throw light on animal ethics. Traditional animal ethicists, he argues, adopt ideal theory which focuses on the extent to which a theory of morality approximates to the truth in so far as normative arguments can arrive at such a determinate answer. Seen as a political prescription, the theories of animal ethicists can also be judged in relation to their feasibility, and in terms of the steps that are needed to secure them. This is where non-ideal theory comes into play. Garner seeks to develop a non-ideal theory (what he calls the ‘sentience position’) which, he argues, qualifies as a valid non-ideal theory, although he accepts that a more far-reaching ethic (what he calls the ‘enhanced sentience position’) is the most valid ideal theory, one that is justified by reference to ethical principles alone.- ROBERT GARNER