Tom Regan – Rainer Ebert

Neues Buch: Die Philosophie der Tierrechte

Tom Regan war einer der Begründer der Philosophie der Tierrechte. In seinem Text The Philosophy of Animal Rights, den ich hier neu ins Deutsche übersetzt habe, bietet er eine kompakte Zusammenfassung dieser Philosophie. Ausgangspunkt für Regans Argument ist die Tatsache, dass viele nichtmenschliche Tiere – ebenso wie Menschen – ein Leben haben, das für sie selbst von Bedeutung ist. Sie besitzen ein geistiges Innenleben, können Freude und Leid erfahren und haben daher einen Eigenwert, der unabhängig von ihrem Nutzen für den Menschen besteht.

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Animal Ethics, Philosophy

Tom Regan: Die Philosophie der Tierrechte

Die Tierrechtsposition

Die Tiere, die von Menschen gegessen, in der Wissenschaft verwendet, gejagt, mit Fallen gefangen und auf vielerlei andere Weise ausgebeutet werden, haben ein eigenes Leben, das ihnen wichtig ist, unabhängig von ihrem Nutzen für uns. Sie existieren nicht nur in der Welt, sie sind sich der Welt bewusst. Was mit ihnen geschieht, ist für sie von Bedeutung. Jedes Tier hat ein Leben, das für das Tier selbst besser oder schlechter verlaufen kann.

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Animal Ethics, Philosophy

The Philosophy of Animal Rights, by Dr. Tom Regan

German

Bangla

Kiswahili (coming soon)

The Animal Rights Position

The other animals humans eat, use in science, hunt, trap, and exploit in a variety of ways, have a life of their own that is of importance to them apart from their utility to us. They are not only in the world, they are aware of it. What happens to them matters to them. Each has a life that fares better or worse for the one whose life it is.

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Animal Ethics, Philosophy

ড. টম রেগান: প্রাণী-অধিকার দর্শন

Book

English

German

Kiswahili (coming soon)

অন্য যেসব প্রাণীকে মানুষ খায়, বিজ্ঞানে ব্যবহার করে, শিকার করে, ফাঁদ পেতে ধরে এবং বিচিত্র উপায়ে শোষণ করে, আমাদের কাছে তাদের উপযোগিতা ছাড়াও তাদের একটি স্বকীয় জীবন রয়েছে যা তাদের কাছে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ। তারা যে শুধু পৃথিবীর মাঝে অস্তিত্বশীল তা-ই নয়, তারা এ ব্যাপারে অবগতও বটে। তাদের জীবনে যা ঘটে তা তাদের কাছে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ। প্রত্যেকের একটি জীবন আছে যা জীবনধারীর কাছে উৎকৃষ্টতর বা নিকৃষ্টতররূপে প্রতিভাত হতে পারে।

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Animal Ethics, Bangladesh, Philosophy

Jagannath University students discuss the philosophy of animal rights

On Tuesday, December 3, 2019, the Department of Philosophy at Jagannath University in Dhaka, Bangladesh hosted a day-long workshop on the life and philosophy of American philosopher Tom Regan. The workshop was conducted by Wilson John Simon, a researcher at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and me. We were invited by the Chairperson of the Department of Philosophy, Professor Siddhartha Shankar Joarder, who also moderated part of the discussion. Continue reading “Jagannath University students discuss the philosophy of animal rights” →

Animal Ethics, Bangladesh, Philosophy

Bangla translation of Tom Regan’s The Philosophy of Animal Rights published

Tom Regan: The Philosophy of Animal Rights

Dyu Publication, a Dhaka-based press, published a Bangla translation of Tom Regan‘s The Philosophy of Animal Rights (ISBN: 978-984-93197-6-4; English original available here and here), which offers an accessible and compelling introduction to the philosophy of animal rights. This is the first time any of Regan’s work has been translated into Bangla. Continue reading “Bangla translation of Tom Regan’s The Philosophy of Animal Rights published” →

Animal Ethics, Philosophy

Philosopher-activist Tom Regan, preeminent advocate of animal rights, dead at 78

tom-regan-utah-valley-university-1-april-2010-4

Horrified by the tragic loss of innocent human life in the then-ongoing Vietnam War, a young philosopher by the name of Tom Regan went to the university library and buried himself in books on war, violence, and human rights, determined to prove that the American involvement in the war was morally wrong. One day, he picked up Mohandas K. Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Reading it with great care and interest, he must have come across the following lines:

“To my mind the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body. I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.” Continue reading “Philosopher-activist Tom Regan, preeminent advocate of animal rights, dead at 78” →

Animal Ethics, Philosophy

Professor Tom Regan: An Introduction to Animal Rights

This presentation by Professor Tom Regan (North Carolina State University, USA) was recorded at the University of Heidelberg in Germany on May 24, 2006. It is a great resource for the classroom and anybody with an interest in animal ethics.

Abstract. Philosopher Tom Regan begins by contrasting the fact that many people make a firm distinction between the animals they live with (cats and dogs, for example) and other animals. He explains how it is that Animal Rights Advocates (ARAs) extend the same sense of compassion and respect that they feel for companion animals, on the one hand, to the other animals who routinely are turned into food, clothing, and the like, on the other. Not all ARAs, he explains, arrive at this destination in the same way. In particular, some need to be convinced; some need a logical argument. Professor Regan accepts this challenge and invites others to consider the main factual and moral questions whose answers inform the conviction that animals have rights.

Animal Ethics, Philosophy

Animal Rights: Objections, Myths, and Misconceptions

animal-rights-objections

Each one of us encounters animals every day, if only as a piece of meat on a plate, and yet most of us hardly spare a thought for them. Shafayat Nazam Rasul must hence be commended for his Tuesday op-ed, in which he drew our attention to the complicated relationship between humans and other animals, and started a conversation that I think is very important. In the course of doing so, he mentioned a number of common objections to the idea that non-human animals are our moral equals and have rights. It is unfortunate, however, that these objections remained unanswered, as readers might have gotten the impression that animal rights advocates “spew an extreme,” as the author rather uncharitably stated, and do not have good arguments. By responding to some of the objections, I want to show that the philosophy of animal rights is in fact a well-thought-out moral theory worthy of our serious attention. Continue reading “Animal Rights: Objections, Myths, and Misconceptions” →