Nussbaum is going a different way, taking aim at the entire system of moral thought that, consciously or not, has led us to treat living things as objects and trash the Eden of our natural world. For her, the original philosophical sin is the idea that animals are “dumb beasts… automata without a subjective view of the world”.
She draws a parallel with how women were once treated under the law – as objects or property controlled and used by men. Fast-forward to today and women have rights and freedoms that would have been unthinkable two centuries ago. “The same thing can happen,” writes Nussbaum with a righteous optimism, “with the rights of animals.”
Justice for Animals by Martha C Nussbaum review – how we became the tyrants of the animal kingdom
A scholarly look at how badly we treat other species employs moral principles to shame us into acknowledging their rights
