Speciesism, Painism and Happiness: A Morality for the Twenty-First Century

by Richard D. Ryder

Ryder coined the term speciesism in early 1970 and shared the idea with Pete Singer, who popularized the term in his classic work "Animal Liberation." Here, Ryder shares his views of animal rights for the 21st century.

Genres: Philosophy

156 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2011

Reviews

[Daniel Hageman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to imagine giving such a low rating for a book that emphasizes the rejection of speciesism and a focus on relief of pain when it comes to an ethical framework (both truly laudable ideals). The grounding for 'Painism', the critiques of utilitarianism, and the lack of steelman against Ryder's own normative framework (particularly around welfare aggregation) are extremely lacking. Unfortunate.

[Ivy Stump · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be the most life-changing book I've read in 2020! Speciesism, Painism, and Happiness unsurpsisingly touches on the topics of speciesism (discrimination on the basis of species) and painism (a moral theory whose aim is to enhance the happiness of others through the minimalization of pain). At first, I was a bit skeptical of Ryder, since his theory claims to solve all of the ethical conundrums entailed by Utilitarianism and Rights Theory. However, the fact that this man both invented the word 'speciesism' and was forwarded by Peter Singer was enough to read through the book in its entirety. Ryder does an alright job talking about the importance of happiness in morality (a taboo word to use in such contexts nowadays) and touches a bit on speciesism. Ryder's genius finally shines bright in his construction of painism and its corresponding implications in chapters 3 and 4. I did find his attacks on the topics of religion, democracy, and sexuality especially interesting, although aggressive, but whether or not I agree or disagree with him, his discussion of them are eye-opening. I would say that this book is for anyone wanting to learn more about the injustice of animal exploitation, in addition to exposing themselves to a radical ethical theory for the 21st century.

[Farah Paloma · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. The book overall is really good and it had a great potential. However, to me it seems as the book did not focus enough on speciesism. The book focused to much on painism (which is great) but, this theory of morality at least in this book was not clearly exposed. Instead it always compare itself to utilitarianism and Rights theory. Hope I can read more about this author because he was the one who invented the term Speciesism.