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This is the class blog for Phil 3377, Animal Rights, at SMU. Visit often to find material presented during class, including lecture notes, visuals, links to videos, etc.

9.25.2026

Do animals have moral standing?




Peter Carruthers, "Against the Moral Standing of Animals" (2011)

  1. Part 1 (sec 1-3):  contractualist argument ... animals have no moral standing
  2. Part 2 (sec 4-5): why is animal cruelty still wrong?

Thought experiments
  1. Kids set a cat on fire for fun in a public place (p. 11)
  2. Astrid the Astronaut and her pet cat (p. 12)
  3. Astrid the Astronaut and her dead servant (p. 13)
  4. Lazy Jane the doctor 
Why is cruelty and indifference wrong?
  1. Because of what is shows about you and your character (compare Indian animal ethics)
  2. Your cruelty will lead you to harm humans (compare Kant)
  3. Contractors would agree that cruelty is wrong

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Preview of Monday's reading -- to make more time for field trips 


Sue Donaldson & Will Kymlicka, Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights 

  • they are Canadian
  • they wrote this book in 2011
  • we're reading their precis of the book -- a short summary
  • "zoopolis" means (literally) animal city
  • animalism, but a different kind of animalism than we've seen before

Individualistic animalism--our obligations to animals depend on each individual animal's "intrinsic moral standing" (D&K p. 1).
  1. Peter Singer--sentience, interests
  2. Tom Regan--being a subject of a life, rights
Political animalilsm
  1. Intrinsic moral standing does matter
  2. but so does "political status" 
  3. both matter for both humans and animals


What do they mean by political status?

Passport control at DFW international terminal


Picture people who get off a plane

They all have  the same basic rights based on "intrinsic moral standing" (p. 1) – enshrined in Universal Declaration of Human Rights 
  1. right to life
  2. right to liberty
  3. we can't torture or enslave any of them
But they have different rights based on "relationship to a particular political community" (p. 2)
  1. Citizens of the US
    • right to enter the US
    • right to work here
    • right to have their interests represented by government
    • right to vote
    • right to have access to public spaces (can go there, signs are in your language)
    • right to emergency health care

  2. In-betweens/Denizens: "tourists, foreign students, refugee claimants, business visitors or temporary workers" (p. 2). 
    • have all the basic rights based on "intrinsic moral standing" 
    • don't have all of the rights of citizens, but do have some

  3. Foreign Nationals--citizens of other countries, back in home country
    • have set of rights established in other nation
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D&K say animals are in parallel political categories 

  1. Animal Citizens -- domesticated animals living with us-- for example pets
  2. Animal Denizens  -- animals drawn to us but not living with us--squirrels, rats, mice, raccoons, ducks, geese, chimney swifts, swallows
  3. Animal wild sovereigns --  live independently in wilderness (inside our borders or outside)


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Next time: arguments, details, what it means to be an animal citizen