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All That Matters
Animal Rights: All That Matters
Animal Rights is a big deal. From animal testing to vegetarianism, and hunting to preservation of fish stocks, it's a topic that's always in the news. Mark Rowlands, author of The Philosopher and the Wolf, is the world's best known philosopher of animal rights. In this, the first introduction he has written to the topic, he starts by asking whether there is anything about humans that makes us psychologically or physiologically distinctive - so that there might be a moral justification for treating animals in a different way to how we treat humans. From this foundation, he goes on to explore specific issues of eating animals, experimentation, pets, hunting, zoos, predation and engineering animals. He ends with a challenging argument of how an improved understanding of animal ethics can and should affect readers' choices.
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2013
About the author
Mark Rowlands
36 books154 followersMark Rowlands was born in Newport, Wales and began his undergraduate degree at Manchester University in engineering before changing to philosophy. He took his doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University and has held various academic positions in philosophy in universities in Britain, Ireland and the US.
His best known work is the book The Philosopher and the Wolf about a decade of his life he spent living and travelling with a wolf. As The Guardian described it in its review, "it is perhaps best described as the autobiography of an idea, or rather a set of related ideas, about the relationship between human and non-human animals." Reviews were very positive, the Financial Times said it was "a remarkable portrait of the bond that can exist between a human being and a beast,". Mark Vernon writing in The Times Literary Supplement "found the lessons on consciousness, animals and knowledge as engaging as the main current of the memoir," and added that it "could become a philosophical cult classic", while John Gray in the Literary Review thought it "a powerfully subversive critique of the unexamined assumptions that shape the way most philosophers - along with most people - think about animals and themselves." However, Alexander Fiske-Harrison for Prospect warned that "if you combine misanthropy and lycophilia, the resulting hybrid, lycanthropy, is indeed interesting, but philosophically quite sterile" and that, although Rowlands "acknowledges at the beginning of the book that he cannot think like a wolf... for such a capable philosopher and readable author not to have made the attempt is indeed an opportunity missed."
As a professional philosopher, Rowlands is known as one of the principal architects of the view known as vehicle externalism or the extended mind, and also for his work on the moral status of animals.
His best known work is the book The Philosopher and the Wolf about a decade of his life he spent living and travelling with a wolf. As The Guardian described it in its review, "it is perhaps best described as the autobiography of an idea, or rather a set of related ideas, about the relationship between human and non-human animals." Reviews were very positive, the Financial Times said it was "a remarkable portrait of the bond that can exist between a human being and a beast,". Mark Vernon writing in The Times Literary Supplement "found the lessons on consciousness, animals and knowledge as engaging as the main current of the memoir," and added that it "could become a philosophical cult classic", while John Gray in the Literary Review thought it "a powerfully subversive critique of the unexamined assumptions that shape the way most philosophers - along with most people - think about animals and themselves." However, Alexander Fiske-Harrison for Prospect warned that "if you combine misanthropy and lycophilia, the resulting hybrid, lycanthropy, is indeed interesting, but philosophically quite sterile" and that, although Rowlands "acknowledges at the beginning of the book that he cannot think like a wolf... for such a capable philosopher and readable author not to have made the attempt is indeed an opportunity missed."
As a professional philosopher, Rowlands is known as one of the principal architects of the view known as vehicle externalism or the extended mind, and also for his work on the moral status of animals.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 4, 2015
This is an excellent introduction to animal rights philosophy, but even more than that it's an excellent starter kit on how to think about such issues. Rowlands packs this short book full of facts and then reasoning, i.e. "knowing x, what are the ramifications, what are the objections, etc.?" Rowlands does a fantastic job of illuminating our relationship to animals and how we think about it. I also really enjoyed the "100 Ideas" section in the back of the book which includes a short "famous dead vegetarians" list (incl. Tolstoy, Buddha, da Vinci, and more), a "5 Great Books on Animal Rights" list, and other interesting factoids. Because of a) Rowlands' ability to cut to the chase of the issues, b) the clarity with which he does so, and c) the brevity of the book, I'd recommend this to anyone capable of wrapping their brain around it!
December 26, 2020
"And this means that it is not morally legitimate to routinely and systematically sacrifice their vital interests to promote our non vital interests...This treatment is, therefore, morally wrong".
An excellent, unemotional, introduction to the philosophy of animal rights.
An excellent, unemotional, introduction to the philosophy of animal rights.
September 26, 2015
Stopped around 60%. The book is written in short uninformative paragraphs. You wont learn anything new from it.
September 15, 2015
A great overview of animal welfare and animal rights issues with a caring and balanced opinion.
June 21, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
I purchased this book with an erroneous belief that this book is an advocacy for veganism. Although I'm well-versed with arguments from both sides, I decided to purchase it anyway just in case there are new, original arguments that I'm unaware of.
However, I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that this book also discusses the moral issues surrounding animal testing (and its reliability), hunting (for food, pest control and sport) and how commercial farming pose serious threat to global climate.
I like the tone of this book. The author, who is a philosopher by the way, is reasonable, compassionate and intelligent. You can't argue with his facts because they are rock solid. And unlike fundamentalist vegans you come across on social media, I don't feel like I'm being screamed at while reading this.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Read from June 18 - 21
I purchased this book with an erroneous belief that this book is an advocacy for veganism. Although I'm well-versed with arguments from both sides, I decided to purchase it anyway just in case there are new, original arguments that I'm unaware of.
However, I'm pleasantly surprised to learn that this book also discusses the moral issues surrounding animal testing (and its reliability), hunting (for food, pest control and sport) and how commercial farming pose serious threat to global climate.
I like the tone of this book. The author, who is a philosopher by the way, is reasonable, compassionate and intelligent. You can't argue with his facts because they are rock solid. And unlike fundamentalist vegans you come across on social media, I don't feel like I'm being screamed at while reading this.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Read from June 18 - 21
September 22, 2017
This was a decent read. It was funny, and had some good points, but I'm still eating meat and nothing shocked me.
May 1, 2021
This was a really concise argument in favour of animal rights. It reaffirmed a lot of what I already thought with the backing of research, and there was a fair amount of new information. I found the analysis of the validity of animal testing research to be really interesting - it's not something I've read about much before. I generally think we as a species have a lot of very convincing data against animal abuse, but choose to ignore it a lot of the time because it's inconvenient to live in accordance with it.
This book was written with a lot of emotional distance as a lot of philosophical works tend to be which is not particularly engaging to me. As someone with more ties to psychology than philosophy, I would probably have got lot more out of someone exploring their thoughts and feelings around animal rights than presenting and reinforcing a hypothesis. I would sooner engage with an allegorical story that demonstrates these principles than have them explained so plainly. That's not a negative against this book though, it's just taste.
This book was written with a lot of emotional distance as a lot of philosophical works tend to be which is not particularly engaging to me. As someone with more ties to psychology than philosophy, I would probably have got lot more out of someone exploring their thoughts and feelings around animal rights than presenting and reinforcing a hypothesis. I would sooner engage with an allegorical story that demonstrates these principles than have them explained so plainly. That's not a negative against this book though, it's just taste.
February 14, 2015
Mark Rowlands is so lucid and stimulating. A must read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews