Two colleagues at the University of South Africa – Motlatsi Khosi and Kala Bopape – and I are organizing an international animal ethics conference for students and early career practitioners, which will be held online on December 17, 18, and 19, 2024.
Continue reading “Humans and Other Animals: Rattling the Paradigm”
Sadly, postcards are not as popular anymore as they once were, which is why in many places they are increasingly hard to find. Postcrossing has been trying to revive the culture of sending postcards, with remarkable success, and there are communities of collectors across the globe.
Continue reading “Adelmannsfelden postcard”When people are treated monstrously, we say they are “treated like animals.” This is because we treat animals monstrously. We mistreat and abuse them on farms, transport them in cramped and stressful conditions, torture them in laboratories, hunt them for sport, and use them for our entertainment in circuses and zoos. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. And yet, the horror continues, and it continues on a scale that is truly mind-boggling.
I only now learned that American philosopher Carl Cohen passed away earlier this year, at the age of 92.
I first met Carl in July 2006, when he spoke at a conference about the moral status of animals at the University of Heidelberg. Even though I thought he was dead wrong about animals, his passion for philosophical debate and his genuine appreciation of reasoned disagreement made a lasting impression on me, and shaped how I think about the nature and role of philosophy. He was a true champion of diversity of opinion and did not shy away from opinions that are unpopular. If that is where he thought the best arguments lead, that is where he went. He publicly and forcefully argued against affirmative action in college admissions, and for the right of neo-Nazis to march in Skokie, a Chicago suburb where a significant number of Holocaust survivors lived. Like Socrates and any philosopher worth their salt, he was a troublemaker.
Continue reading “In memory of Carl Cohen”
In May 2020, when people were panic-buying toilet paper and supply chains were crumbling due to COVID-19, Iowa’s largest pork producer found itself with thousands of pigs that no longer had commercial value. Led by the logic of profit maximization, Iowa Select Farms decided that keeping the pigs alive was not worth the cost. The pigs had to die, and their deaths had to be fast and cheap.
Continue reading “Western Hypocrisy and Muslim Whataboutism, as Every Year”
Animal Liberation, a 1975 book by Australian philosopher Peter Singer, is widely considered one of the founding texts of the modern animal liberation movement. It develops a new ethics for our treatment of nonhuman animals, according to which their interests should be given the same consideration as the like interests of humans, and calls for an end to practices such as factory farming and animal testing. The book has had a lasting impact on generations of scholars and students and has influenced countless people in all corners of the world to adopt a vegan diet.
Almost half a century after its first publication, Animal Liberation is now finally available in Swahili! The book was translated by Deogratius Simba and published by Dar es Salaam-based publisher Mkuki na Nyota. It is available for purchase at the TPH Bookshop at 24 Samora Avenue in Dar es Salaam, and everywhere else where Mkuki na Nyota’s books are sold. The retail price is 30,000 TSh. If you are a student at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), you can find a copy of the book at the library of UDSM’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Continue reading “Ukombozi wa Wanyama”
If the ultimate test of our humanity is how we treat nonhuman animals, then we are failing spectacularly. Earth is home to vastly more farm animals than wild mammals and birds, and almost all of them live in factory farms – where conditions vary from horrible to horrific – and die violently. The sheer numbers make our treatment of animals one of the most pressing moral issues of our time. You do not need to be an animal rights advocate to recognize this truth. If you believe that animals have any moral standing at all, that unlike stones they matter, at least a little bit, then the monstrous amount of gratuitous suffering we routinely inflict on animals should offend your moral sense. A Gallup poll found that a majority of Americans in fact are either somewhat or very concerned about the way in which the animals we raise for food are treated, and extend that concern to the animals used in entertainment and research as well.
Continue reading “Irresponsible scholarship”
Je, unajua tofauti kati ya utambulisho wa kijinsia, muonekano wa kijinsia, jinsia ki-anatomia, na mwelekeo wa kijinsi? Baadhi ya marafiki na mimi tumeunda kitini cha ukurasa mmoja, kulingana na Genderbread Person ya Sam Killermann, ambayo inafafanua dhana hizi kwa njia inayoweza kufikiwa na ya kuvutia. Ni zana nzuri ya kufundishia na njia nzuri ya kuanzisha mazungumzo muhimu, iwe shuleni, chuo kikuu, matukio ya kijumuiya, au warsha za utetezi. Ni bure kwa mtu yeyote kupakua na kutumia kwa madhumuni ya elimu, na kukuza uvumilivu, kuelewa, na kuthamini tofauti za binadamu.
Continue reading “Mtu na Jinsia”
Isipokuwa kama unajilinda mwenyewe au unamlinda mtu mwingine, kumpiga mtu ni shambulio, na shambulio ni kinyume cha sheria. Hakuna mjadala juu yake, na hakuna sababu nzuri sana kwa nini iwe hivyo. Watu wana haki ya kuheshimiwa. Kumpiga mtu sio tu husababisha maumivu ya mwili – ni udhalilishaji. Ndiyo maana ni nchi chache tu ambazo bado zinatumia mateso ya kimwili kama adhabu. Tunaposoma makala za habari kuhusu nchi zinazowapiga watu viboko kwa uharibifu wa kitu fulani au kuiba, wengi wetu hukwazika na kushangaa: “Ni unyama ulioje!” Tumechoka na kuchoshwa na vurugu. Ubinadamu umepitia mambo mabaya mengi sana, na imekuwa nadra sana kwa binadamu kufanya mambo mema. Vurugu inapaswa kuwa suluhu ya mwisho, na itumike tu inapobidi.
Continue reading “Kupiga watoto sio sawa”
Unless you are defending yourself or someone else, hitting a stranger is assault, and assault is illegal. There is no question about it, and there are very good reasons why that is so. People have the right to be treated with respect. Hitting someone not only causes physical pain – it is degrading. That’s also why only a few countries still use the infliction of physical pain as punishment. When reading news articles about countries caning people for vandalism or stealing, most of us react with indignation: “How barbaric and backward!” We are sick and tired of violence. Humanity has seen too much of it, and hardly ever has it done any good. Violence should be the last resort, only to be used when absolutely necessary.
Continue reading “Hitting kids is never OK”
The Montreal Declaration on Animal Exploitation is a public condemnation of animal exploitation. As of now, more than 500 researchers in moral and political philosophy from across the globe and various philosophical traditions have signed the Declaration. I am one of them. In philosophy, such agreement is rare. Its part of a growing consensus that common human practices that involve treating non-human animals as mere commodities are fundamentally unjust and morally indefensible.
Continue reading “Montreal Declaration on Animal Exploitation”
I just got back from a trip to what the British newspaper The Telegraph once called “the world’s most vegetarian country.” The country is Bangladesh, where – according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – the average person consumes only about four kilograms of meat annually. For comparison, in the United States, the per-capita meat consumption is 120 kilograms.
Continue reading “Veganizing Bangladesh”
The use of postcards to send greetings to friends and family has sharply declined in recent times, mainly due to the rise of email and social media. Postcards take days, weeks, or even months to reach, and buying and posting them requires both time and money. Yet, there is magic in sending handwritten postcards that cannot be found in the digital world. Postcards travel large distances and pass many eyes before they reach their intended recipients and at the same time are more intimate and personal than an email or social media post. Kept in a safe place, a postcard is a physical reminder that someone thought of you, and cared enough to make the effort of sending it. It is a memory that lasts.
Continue reading “Bangladesh’s first-ever Postcrossing event”
My new article in the Zeitschrift für Ethik und Moralphilosophie (Journal for Ethics and Moral Philosophy) is perhaps the most important article I have written to date. It builds on arguments I made in previous publications – including in this article and this article – and presents a novel account of full and equal moral status, according to which it is no less seriously wrong to kill a non-human conscious animal than it is to kill you or me.
Continue reading “New article, defending a novel account of full and equal moral status”
Ni janga kubwa na lisilo na kifani. Linaleta uchungu na mateso kwa wanawake na familia zao. Linaharibu jamii katika kila nchi na tamaduni. Lakini cha kushangaza, ni mara chache linazungumziwa, na kwa hakika halishughulikiwi kwa uharaka, tofauti kabisa na janga lingine lolote, ambalo limewahi kuwepo angalau kwa miaka miwili iliyopita. Tanzania ni mfano wa nchi ambayo janga hili limejikita sana lakini linafichwa. Katika nchi kama hii yenye mandhari nzuri, visiwa vya kupendeza, na wanyama wa porini wa kuvutia, kufichwa kwa janga hili kunaleta kizungumkuti.
Continue reading “Ni zaidi ya suala la familia!”
🇬🇭 Accra 🇦🇷 Buenos Aires 🇹🇿 Dar es Salaam 🇧🇩 Dhaka 🇩🇪 Ellwangen 🇨🇱 La Serena 🇭🇳 San Pedro Sula 🇸🇻 San Salvador 🇨🇱 Santiago 🇺🇸 USA
There was a time when one could purchase postcards almost everywhere. Now it has become increasingly hard to find them, even in large cities and at popular tourist destinations.
Continue reading “Where to Buy Postcards”
It is a pandemic of devastating proportions. It brings pain and suffering to women and their families. It ravages communities in every country and culture. And yet, we rarely talk about it, and we surely do not address it with the urgency it demands – in stark contrast to the other pandemic, which has been a constant presence in our collective consciousness for the last two years. Tanzania is a case in point. In the land of picturesque landscapes, tropical islands, and spectacular wildlife, this hidden pandemic casts a particularly dark shadow.
Continue reading “Not a “family issue””
Senior Russian officials continued denying their intent to invade Ukraine until the moment the invasion began. The Russians misled and miscalculated, and Europe is now in the midst of its largest military conflict and refugee crisis since World War II.
Neither NATO, a defensive alliance whose purpose is to protect its member states, nor Ukraine posed an existential threat to Russia prior to the invasion. As the International Court of Justice recently noted, there is also no credible evidence to support Russian claims that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. The Russian claim that their “Special Military Operation” is “de-nazifying” Ukraine is likewise laughable. The country has a democratically elected Jewish president, after all.
Continue reading “Abstaining on Ukraine at the UN is Indefensible”Peter Singer‘s Animal Liberation, a modern classic in the field of ethics, is now available in Bangla! It is one of the most important books that you will ever read. It might change your life. It did change mine.
On December 7 and 8, 2021, the Ethics of Change International Student Conference was held at the Centre de Recherche en Éthique. On this occasion, nine young researchers, selected after a competition in which over 200 proposals were received, presented their work.
The two best of these excellent presentations have been summarized and are available on the website of the CRÉ, and here:
Congratulations to these excellent researchers!
And enjoy reading their papers.
Rainer Ebert 