Towards a theory of animal rights: Adventures in metaphysics and morals

Polk, Amber

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/108472 Copy

Description

Title

Towards a theory of animal rights: Adventures in metaphysics and morals

Author(s)

Polk, Amber

Issue Date

2020-07-14

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Livengood, Jonathan M.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Livengood, Jonathan M.

Committee Member(s)

• Moore, Michael S.
• Hurd, Heidi M.
• Murphy, Colleen
• Ben Moshe, Nir

Department of Study

Philosophy

Discipline

Philosophy

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Rights
• theory of rights
• animal rights

Abstract

At this time, we have a century of jurisprudential and philosophical discussions on the metaphysical nature of rights. We have almost half a century of moral theory arguing for the moral rights of animals. Surprisingly, these two literatures have not intersected much. This leaves open whether the nature of rights could preclude the possibility of animal rights. It also leaves open what the nature of animal rights would be, should any of the moral arguments for animal rights be successful in their tasks. In this project, I explore these questions and show that animal rights must be conceived of as a limited form of human rights. Animals possess only passive rights (i.e. claim-rights protected by immunities) which function to advance their interests, in general. So conceived, it becomes clear why the moral arguments for animal rights have been grounded in deontological moral theories (e.g. varieties of Kantianism, contractarianism) rather than in consequentialist moral theories. Finally, even with a precise understanding of the nature of and grounds for the moral rights of animals, challenges remain regarding the ultimate force and place of animal moral rights among human moral rights.

Graduation Semester

2020-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/108472

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2020 Amber Polk

Owning Collections