A Comment on Violence
I am asked frequently about my views on those who advocate violence against animal exploiters. My response is simple: I am violently opposed to violence. I have three reasons for my position. First, in my view, the animal rights position is the ultimate rejection of violence. It is the ultimate affirmation of peace. I see […]
A Note About Michael Vick
There has been an enormous amount of coverage of the alleged dog fighting operation sponsored by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. Vick and three other men were indicted on federal felony charges claiming that Vick had sponsored illegal dog fighting, gambled on dog fights and permitted acts of cruelty against animals on his property. The […]
Is Heterosexism Different?
Since we have launched the new site, I have been receiving dozens of questions every day. Unfortunately, I am not able to answer all of them personally, but I do appreciate your interest in the abolitionist approach. There are, however, some questions that I feel compelled to respond to because they go so directly to […]
Farewell, Satya
When The Animals’ Agenda stopped publishing in 2002, Satya took over as the primary journal of the new welfarist movement, promoting the fantasy that incremental animal welfare reform could provide significant protection to animal interests and pretending that there was no inherent conflict between the abolition and regulationist approaches to animal ethics. And now, Satya […]
The Failure of Anticruelty Laws
We are still hard at work redesigning the Web site. We are very excited about it and we hope that you will like it and find it useful in your abolitionist advocacy. I did, however, want to offer a brief comment this week about a recent legal case that is making the news. In December […]
My Response to Johanna
Last week, I received an email from a person whom I will identify, with her permission, only as Johanna. Johanna wrote, in part: You argue that we ought to put all our time and energy in trying to persuade people to become vegans. I think that is a wonderful idea but what about all of […]
Peter Singer: “Oh my god, these vegans…”
In the ongoing debate between those who promote the abolitionist approach and those who promote the welfarist approach, some of the welfarists claim that they support veganism so there is, in reality, little difference between the two approaches on the matter of eating and using animal products. To the extent that welfarists support veganism, it […]
Vivisection, Part Two: The Moral Justification of Vivisection
In Vivisection, Part One: The “Necessity” of Vivisection, I discussed the problems surrounding the claim that the use of nonhumans in biomedical experiments is, as a factual matter, “necessary” to get data needed for purposes of human health. In this essay, I want to explore briefly the argument that even if animal use is necessary […]
Some Questions from the Vegan Freaks
I regard the Vegan Freak Forums as one of the most intelligent and lively places on the web to discuss vegan issues. One of the participants posted four questions that were posed to her by someone defending animal use and other participants said that they had received similar questions. These questions are typical and I […]
The Four Problems of Animal Welfare: In a Nutshell
A number of readers have been asking me to write something that they can download and use as a short response to those animal advocates who promote the welfarist approach and who do not understand why this approach is inconsistent with the rights/abolitionist position. I hope that this is useful. There are at least four […]
Vivisection, Part One: The “Necessity” of Vivisection
One of the main arguments that I make is that although almost everyone accepts that it is morally wrong to inflict “unnecessary” suffering and death on animals, 99% of the suffering and death that we inflict on animals can be justified only by our pleasure, amusement, or convenience. For example, the best justification that we […]
Simon the Sadist, Jeffrey Dahmer, the League Against Cruel Sports, and the “Oxford” Centre for Animal Welfare
In September 2007, two animal welfare organizations, the League Against Cruel Sports and the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, will hold an “International Conference on the Relationship between Animal Abuse and Human Violence.” Although the conference will be held at Oxford University, the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics is, according to the Assistant to the […]
Frequently Asked Questions, Part Two
This is the second part of the entry on frequently asked questions. The first part was posted last week. 4. Question: Isn’t human use of animals a “tradition,” or “natural,” and therefore morally justified? Answer: No. Every form of discrimination in the history of humankind has been defended as “traditional.” Sexism is routinely justified on […]
Frequently Asked Questions, Part One
In my essay of December 13, 2006, I offered a response to a frequently asked question about whether plants should be considered as rightholders. I received many emails from readers who found that essay useful in talking with others about animal rights and veganism, and who requested that I provide some more answers to the […]
What Battle Are We Winning?
In a recent blog essay (and in my work over the past 15 years), I argued that animal welfare not only fails to provide significant protection for animal interests but that it is counterproductive because it makes people feel more comfortable about animal exploitation. This perpetuates animal exploitation and may even result in a net […]
A Most Misleading Label
There is a controversy in Britain over the RSPCA “Freedom Food” label. According to the RSPCA: Freedom Food is the RSPCA’s farm assurance and food labelling scheme dedicated to improving welfare standards for the 900 million farm animals reared for food each year in the UK. If you’re concerned about the origins of your food […]
Peter Singer and the “Luxury” of Death
In last week’s blog entry, I mentioned that The Vegan Society had interviewed Peter Singer, Tom Regan, and me in its magazine, The Vegan. In his interview, Singer states: [T]o avoid inflicting suffering on animals—not to mention the environmental costs of intensive animal production—we need to cut down drastically on the animal products we consume. […]
Interview on Veganism/Abolition in The Vegan
I am working furiously on finishing my book, The Personhood of Animals, which will be published by Columbia University Press this coming fall, so this entry will be brief. Last week, I had an interview come out in The Vegan, the magazine of The Vegan Society in Great Britain. The Vegan interviewed Peter Singer in […]
My Dinner at Erik’s “Happy Meat” Diner
Dear Colleagues: This past Sunday, February 25, I had a lovely chat with Erik Marcus from Erik’s Diner. Erik took the position that welfarist reforms are providing significant protection for animals and leading to abolition and I argued that these reforms are largely meaningless and are doing nothing more than making people feel comfortable about […]
Goodall on Vivisection and Vegetarianism
In an article (February 19, 2007) in the on-line Spanish publication, El Mundo, Jane Goodall makes clear that she is not opposed to all vivisection and that although she claims to be a vegetarian, she does not think that it is “an option that everyone has to adopt.” I do not know whether she is […]