Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights argues for a vision of a just society (or a just earth) in which humans and animals share, on the basis of equal moral status, their living space. To achieve this goal, political categories hitherto reserved for humans would be extended to animals. Thus domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats, would become fellow citizens, and wild animals are to be understood as constituting sovereign countries. Animals that fall into neither category, such as starlings, Canada geese or neighbourhood raccoons, are to be given the legal protection of human groups that fall into such in-between categories as migrant workers, tourists or the Amish.
Do authors Sue Donaldson, a professional writer, and Will Kymlicka, one of Canada’s most distinguished political philosophers, want us to take these proposals literally? Or are they using suggestive analogies and metaphors to further animal welfare, while fully...
Richard Keshen is a professor of philosophy at Cape Breton University. He is the author of Reasonable Self-Esteem (McGill-Queens University Press, 1995) and co-editor of Ethics and Humanity: Themes from the Philosophy of Jonathan Glover (Oxford University Press, 2010). He is writing a book on political philosophy with specific reference to Canada.
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