Animal Agency, Captivity, and Meaning

The Harvard Review of Philosophy 25:127-146 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Can animals be agents? Do they want to be free? Can they have meaningful lives? If so, should we change the way we treat them? This paper offers an account of animal agency and of two continuums: between human and nonhuman agency, and between wildness and captivity. It describes how a wide range of human activities impede on animals’ freedom and argues that, in doing so, we deprive a wide range of animals of opportunities to exercise their agency in ways that can give meaning to their lives.

Similar books and articles

Coercion and Captivity.Lisa Rivera - 2014 - In Lori Gruen (ed.), The Ethics of Captivity. pp. 248-271.
Zoos: A Philosophical Tour.Keekok Lee - 2005 - Palgrave-Macmillan.
Animals, Agency and Resistance.Bob Carter & Nickie Charles - 2013 - Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 43 (3):322-340.
Meaning in the lives of humans and other animals.Duncan Purves & Nicolas Delon - 2018 - Philosophical Studies 175 (2):317-338.
For their own good: captive cats and routine confinement.Clare Palmer & Peter Sandoe - 2014 - In Lori Gruen (ed.), Ethics of Captivity. Oxford University Press. pp. 135-155.
The Ethics of Captivity ed. by Lori Gruen.Kelly Struthers Montford & Chloë Taylor - 2016 - Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 26 (2):43-51.
Can Only Human Lives Be Meaningful?Joshua Lewis Thomas - 2018 - Philosophical Papers 47 (2):265-297.
The origin of agency, consciousness, and free will.J. H. van Hateren - 2015 - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 14 (4):979-1000.

Analytics

Added to PP
2018-06-12

Downloads
228 (#81,187)

6 months
18 (#105,314)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Nicolas Delon
College of Charleston

Citations of this work

Political Agency in Humans and Other Animals.Angie Pepper - 2021 - Contemporary Political Theory 20 (2):296-317.
The Intrinsic Value of Liberty for Non-Human Animals.Marc G. Wilcox - 2020 - Journal of Value Inquiry 55 (4):685-703.
Pervasive Captivity and Urban Wildlife.Nicolas Delon - 2020 - Ethics, Policy and Environment 23 (2):123-143.
Animal capabilities and freedom in the city.Nicolas Delon - 2021 - Journal of Human Development and Capabilities 22 (1):131-153.
The Badness of Death for Sociable Cattle.Daniel Story - forthcoming - Journal of Value Inquiry:1-20.

View all 8 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability.Elizabeth Barnes - 2016 - Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights.Sue Donaldson & Will Kymlicka - 2011 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Will Kymlicka.
Can Animals Be Moral?Mark Rowlands - 2012 - New York, US: Oup Usa.

View all 29 references / Add more references