Description
Puppy Love: Reproduction, Birthright, and AbolitionIn this paper, I set out and defend an argument that calls for the abolition of pet-keeping. This argument is concerned with the institutional dynamics of the practice that sees pets as necessarily socially positioned as subordinate to humans. I show that these relations of power are illegitimate because they set back animals’ interests in self-determination and expose them to unacceptable risks of harm. The upshot of this argument is that we must refrain from reproducing the institution of pet-keeping and cease bringing animals into existence to be pets. I then consider two powerful objections, which suggest that one cannot abolish the practice of pet-keeping without doing serious injustice to existing and future pets. The first objection maintains that abolition will necessitate an unjustifiable interference with the reproductive interests of existing individual animals. The second objection maintains that pets, “through domestication, [..] have acquired a birthright in this shared society” (Kymlicka 2022, p.222). Unlike the first objection, the second is not concerned with the rights of individual animals but rather with domesticated animals as a multigenerational class persisting through time. In response, I argue that both objections are insensitive to the interests of individual future pets and that a more complete picture of the interests at stake supports abolitionism.
Period | 21 Mar 2024 → 23 Mar 2024 |
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Event title | Ethics at the Interface of Future Generations and Nature |
Event type | Workshop |
Location | Zurich, SwitzerlandShow on map |
Degree of Recognition | International |