Post on 15-Jan-2017
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An Introduction to the Controversial
Idea of Animal Rights
Roger YatesVegFest Bristol 2016
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Roger Yates – Vegan Information Project[ethical] vegan since 1979
1980s…hunt saboteurBUAV executive committee member (1982)
Fur Action GroupHazleton Action Group
Edelson Action Group
Sea Shepherd crewAnimal Liberation Front Norther Press Officer
Merseyside Animal Rights Committee, etc
academicMA – British Animal Advocacy Movement
PhD – Support pillars of Cultural Speciesism
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• I say I am a member of the
Animal Rights Movement
• I do not say that I’m a
member of the Animal Rights
Movement
A quick survey….
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a. I would describe myself as an “animal rightist”b. I would not describe myself as an “animal rightist”
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TOM REGANHave you read The Case for Animal Rights (1983)
Have you read any other books by Tom Regan?
Would you be able to explain the concept of “a-subject-of-a-life”?
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JOAN DUNAYER
Animal Equality: Language
and Liberation
Speciesism
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GARY LAWRENCE FRANCIONE• Animals, Property, and the Law
• Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology
of the Animal Rights Movement
• Introduction to Animal Rights: Your
Child or Your Dog?
HENRY SHUE – BASIC/NON-BASIC RIGHTS
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When talking to, eg, a member of the public, family member, work colleague
Which phrase would you use the most?
• cruelty to animals• rights violations
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• legal rights• moral rights• positive rights• negative rights
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PETER SINGERAnimal Liberation
Would you be comfortable explaining
why Animal Liberation is not an animal
rights book –
and why Peter Singer rejects rights?
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What’s in a name?a great deal – social movements are
“claims-makers”
Who, the animal advocacy movement, should be allowed (meaning be
respected enough) to go under the name “Animal Rights Advocate”?
• Those who don’t really care about rights and use “rights” as a label?
• Those actively opposed to moral rights?
• Those who want to base their entire claims and ethical position about
human relations with each other and other animals on rights?
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