71 found
Order:
  1. Field Deaths in Plant Agriculture.Bob Fischer & Andy Lamey - 2018 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 31 (4):409-428.
    We know that animals are harmed in plant production. Unfortunately, though, we know very little about the scale of the problem. This matters for two reasons. First, we can’t decide how many resources to devote to the problem without a better sense of its scope. Second, this information shortage throws a wrench in arguments for veganism, since it’s always possible that a diet that contains animal products is complicit in fewer deaths than a diet that avoids them. In this paper, (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   20 citations  
  2. Intersubstrate Welfare Comparisons: Important, Difficult, and Potentially Tractable.Bob Fischer & Jeff Sebo - 2024 - Utilitas 36 (1):50-63.
    In the future, when we compare the welfare of a being of one substrate (say, a human) with the welfare of another (say, an artificial intelligence system), we will be making an intersubstrate welfare comparison. In this paper, we argue that intersubstrate welfare comparisons are important, difficult, and potentially tractable. The world might soon contain a vast number of sentient or otherwise significant beings of different substrates, and moral agents will need to be able to compare their welfare levels. However, (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  3.  70
    Modal Justification via Theories.Bob Fischer - 2016 - Cham: Springer.
    This monograph articulates and defends a theory-based epistemology of modality (TEM). According to TEM, someone justifiably believe an interesting modal claim if and only if (a) she justifiably believes a theory according to which that claim is true, (b) she believes that claim on the basis of that theory, and (c) she has no defeaters for her belief in that claim. The book has two parts. In the first, the author motivates TEM, sets out the view in detail, and defends (...)
  4. Modal Epistemology After Rationalism.Bob Fischer & Felipe Leon (eds.) - 2016 - Cham: Springer.
    This collection highlights the new trend away from rationalism and toward empiricism in the epistemology of modality. Accordingly, the book represents a wide range of positions on the empirical sources of modal knowledge. Readers will find an introduction that surveys the field and provides a brief overview of the work, which progresses from empirically-sensitive rationalist accounts to fully empiricist accounts of modal knowledge. Early chapters focus on challenges to rationalist theories, essence-based approaches to modal knowledge, and the prospects for naturalizing (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   14 citations  
  5. The Ethics of Eating Animals: Usually Bad, Sometimes Wrong, Often Permissible.Bob Fischer - 2019 - New York, NY, USA: Routledge.
    Intensive animal agriculture wrongs many, many animals. Philosophers have argued, on this basis, that most people in wealthy Western contexts are morally obligated to avoid animal products. This book explains why the author thinks that’s mistaken. He reaches this negative conclusion by contending that the major arguments for veganism fail: they don’t establish the right sort of connection between producing and eating animal-based foods. Moreover, if they didn’t have this problem, then they would have other ones: we wouldn’t be obliged (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   9 citations  
  6. Bugging the Strict Vegan.Bob Fischer - 2016 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 29 (2):255-263.
    Entomophagy—eating insects—is getting a lot of attention these days. However, strict vegans are often uncomfortable with entomophagy based on some version of the precautionary principle: if you aren’t sure that a being isn’t sentient, then you should treat it as though it is. But not only do precautionary principle-based arguments against entomophagy fail, they seem to support the opposite conclusion: strict vegans ought to eat bugs.
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   21 citations  
  7. Arguments for Consuming Animal Products.Bob Fischer - 2017 - In Anne Barnhill, Mark Budolfson & Tyler Doggett (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Food Ethics. Oxford University Press. pp. 241-266.
    What can be said in favor of consuming animal products? This chapter surveys the options, with special focus on it attempts to exploit pro-vegan principles for anti-vegan ends. Utilitarian, rights-based, contractualist, and agrarian proposals are explored, as well as some recent arguments that attempt to revive a form of speciesism. Ultimately, the chapter considers how such arguments might inform a broad case for consuming animal products—that is, one that might earn respect from those in a variety of moral camps—and it (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   13 citations  
  8. A Theory-based Epistemology of Modality.Bob Fischer - 2016 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 46 (2):228-247.
    We have some justified beliefs about modal matters. A modal epistemology should explain what’s involved in our having that justification. Given that we’re realists about modality, how should we expect that explanation to go? In the first part of this essay, I suggest an answer to this question based on an analogy with games. Then, I outline a modal epistemology that fits with that answer. According to a theory-based epistemology of modality, you justifiably believe that p if you justifiably believe (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   14 citations  
  9.  57
    Modal Empiricism: Objection, Reply, Proposal.Bob Fischer - 2016 - In Bob Fischer & Felipe Leon (eds.), Modal Epistemology After Rationalism. Cham: Springer. pp. 263-280.
    According to modal empiricism, our justification for believing possibility and necessity claims is a posteriori. That is, experience does not merely play an enabling role in modal justification; it isn’t simply that experience explains how, say, we acquire the relevant concepts. Rather, the view is that modal claims answer to the tribunal of experience in roughly the way that claims about quarks and quails answer to it. One serious objection to modal empiricism is the problem of empirical conservativeness: it doesn’t (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   13 citations  
  10.  91
    The Freegan Challenge to Veganism.Bob Fischer & Josh Milburn - 2021 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 34 (3):1-19.
    There is a surprising consensus among vegan philosophers that freeganism—eating animal-based foods going to waste—is permissible. Some ethicists even argue that vegans should be freegans. In this paper, we offer a novel challenge to freeganism drawing upon Donaldson and Kymlicka’s ‘zoopolitical’ approach, which supports ‘restricted freeganism’. On this position, it’s prima facie wrong to eat the corpses of domesticated animals, as they are members of a mixed human-animal community, ruling out many freegan practices. This exploration reveals how the ‘political turn’ (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  11.  92
    Dignitarian Hunting.Dan Demetriou & Bob Fischer - 2018 - Social Theory and Practice 44 (1):49-73.
    Faced with the choice between supporting industrial plant agriculture and hunting, Tom Regan’s rights view can be plausibly developed in a way that permits a form of hunting we call “dignitarian.” To motivate this claim, we begin by showing how the empirical literature on animal deaths in plant agriculture suggests that a non-trivial amount of hunting would not add to animal harm. We discuss how Tom Regan’s miniride principle appears to morally permit hunting in that case, and we address recent (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   7 citations  
  12.  33
    Two Challenges to Johannsen on Habitat Destruction.Bob Fischer - 2021 - Philosophia 50 (3):865-873.
    No categories
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  13.  53
    Facsimiles of Flesh.Bob Fischer & Burkay Ozturk - 2017 - Journal of Applied Philosophy 34 (4):489-497.
    Ed Gein was a serial killer, grave robber, and body snatcher who made a lampshade from human skin. Now consider the detective who found that lampshade. Let's suppose that he would never want to own it; however, he does find that he wants a synthetic one just like it – a perfect replica. We assume that there is something morally problematic about the detective having such a replica. We then argue that, given as much, we can reach the surprising conclusion (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   7 citations  
  14.  72
    Keep Your Cats Indoors: A Reply to Abbate.Bob Fischer - 2020 - Acta Analytica 35 (3):463-468.
    C. E. Abbate (2019) argues that, under certain conditions, cat guardians have a moral duty to allow their feline companions to roam freely outdoors. She contends that outdoor access is crucial to feline flourishing, which means that, in general, to keep cats indoors permanently is to harm them. She grants that, in principle, we could justify preventing cats from roaming based on the fact that some cats kill wildlife. However, she points out that not all cats are guilty of this (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   3 citations  
  15.  64
    In Defence of Backyard Chickens.Bob Fischer & Josh Milburn - 2017 - Journal of Applied Philosophy 36 (1):108-123.
    Suppose that animals have rights. If so, may you go down to your local farm store, buy some chicks, raise them in your backyard, and eat their eggs? You wouldn't think so. But we argue, to the contrary, that you may. Just as there are circumstances in which it's permissible to liberate a slave, even if that means paying into a corrupt system, so there are circumstances in which it's permissible to liberate chickens by buying them. Moreover, we contend that (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   6 citations  
  16.  25
    Self-affirmation in sled dogs? Affordances, perceptual agency, and extreme sport.Eric Gilbertson & Bob Fischer - 2023 - Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 17 (4):443-455.
    We argue that extreme endurance sport can be valuable for some nonhuman animals. To make the case, we focus specifically on dogsled racing. We argue that, given certain views about the nature of self-affirmation, perceptual agency, and affordances, sled dogs are capable of realizing significant value through extreme endurance running. Because our focus is on the axiological question of the nature of the value of the sport for its participants, we do not claim that extreme dogsledding is ethical; indeed, we (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  17.  20
    Hybrid theories, psychological plausibility, and the human/animal divide.Bob Fischer, Clare Palmer & T. J. Kasperbauer - 2021 - Philosophical Studies 180 (4):1105-1123.
    A hybrid theory is any moral theory according to which different classes of individuals ought to be treated according to different principles. We argue that some hybrid theories are able to meet standards of psychological plausibility, by which we mean that it’s feasible for ordinary human beings to understand and act in accord with them. Insofar as psychological plausibility is a theoretical virtue, then, such hybrid theories deserve more serious consideration. To make the case for this view, we explain what (...)
    No categories
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  18.  42
    Should Global Conservation Initiatives Prioritize Phylogenetic Diversity?Clare Palmer & Bob Fischer - 2021 - Philosophia 50 (5):2283-2302.
    Some recent conservation proposals – including the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) EDGE of Existence programme – have focused on the value of protecting species with high evolutionary distinctiveness, a dimension of biodiversity conservation that’s not been much emphasized in conservation practice. In this paper we critically examine this strategy, investigating whether there are good reasons for prioritizing evolutionarily distinctive species, and the phylogenetic diversity to which they contribute, over other forms of biodiversity. We first discuss evolutionary distinctiveness, its relationship (...)
    No categories
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  19. The Problem with Person‐Rearing Accounts of Moral Status.Travis Timmerman & Bob Fischer - 2019 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 8 (2):119-128.
    Agnieszka Jaworska and Julie Tannenbaum recently developed the ingenious and novel person‐rearing account of moral status, which preserves the commonsense judgment that humans have a higher moral status than nonhuman animals. It aims to vindicate speciesist judgments while avoiding the problems typically associated with speciesist views. We argue, however, that there is good reason to reject person‐rearing views. Person‐rearing views have to be coupled with an account of flourishing, which will (according to Jaworska and Tannenbaum) be either a species norm (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  20. The Moral Complexities of Eating Meat.Ben Bramble & Bob Fischer (eds.) - 2015 - New York, US: Oxford University Press.
    In a world of industralized farming and feed lots, is eating meat ever a morally responsible choice? Is eating organic or free range sufficient to change the moral equation? Is there a moral cost in not eating meat? As billions of animals continue to be raised and killed by human beings for human consumption, affecting the significance and urgency in answering these questions grow. This volume collects twelve new essays by leading moral philosophers who address the difficult questions surrounding meat (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   4 citations  
  21. Hale on the Architecture of Modal Knowledge.Bob Fischer - 2016 - Analytic Philosophy 57 (1):76-89.
    There are many modal epistemologies available to us. Which should we endorse? According to Bob Hale, we can start to answer this question by examining the architecture of modal knowledge. That is, we can try to decide between the following claims: knowing that p is possible is essentially a matter of having a well-founded belief that there are no conflicting necessities—a necessity-based approach—and knowing that p is necessary is essentially a matter of having a well-founded belief that there are no (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   5 citations  
  22. Ethics, Left and Right: The Moral Issues that Divide Us.Bob Fischer (ed.) - 2019 - New York: Oxford University Press.
    The only contemporary moral problems text to focus directly on the ethics of current, divisive political issues, Ethics, Left and Right features newly commissioned essays on twenty contentious debates, written expressly with undergraduate students in mind. It offers two position pieces on each issue--one left-leaning, one right--followed by a reply from each author, giving you and your students the opportunity to engage in in-depth discussions of serious issues. The essays cover compelling topics including whether we should have an "America First" (...)
    No categories
  23.  31
    Animal Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction.Bob Fischer - 2021 - New York: Routledge.
    There are many introductions to the animal ethics literature. There aren't many introductions to the practice of doing animal ethics. Bob Fischer's Animal Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction fills that gap, offering an accessible model of how animal ethics can be done today. The book takes up classic issues, such as the ethics of eating meat and experimenting on animals, but tackles them in an empirically informed and nuanced way. It also covers a range of relatively neglected issues in animal ethics, (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  24.  28
    (1 other version)Counting Subjects.Joseph Gottlieb & Bob Fischer - forthcoming - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy.
    We normally assume that there’s just one conscious individual per animal. Some question this, suggesting that there may be nonhuman taxonomic groups whose normal, adult members house more than one conscious subject. Call this the multitudes view (“MV)”. Our aim is methodological: we hope to understand how we might assess whether MV is true. To that end, we distinguish two strategies for counting conscious subjects: the duplication strategy and the mind-first strategy. We use human split-brain patients and octopuses to illustrate (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  25.  64
    Nonideal Ethics and Arguments against Eating Animals.Bob Fischer - 2019 - Environmental Values 28 (4):429-448.
    Arguments for veganism don’t make many vegans, or even many who think they ought to be vegans, at least when they’re written by philosophers. Others — such as the one by Jonathan Safran Foer — seem to do a bit better. Why? To answer this question, I sketch a theory of ordinary moral argumentation that highlights the importance of meaning-based considerations in arguing that people ought to act in ways that deviate from normal expectations for behaviour. In particular, I outline (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  26. Don’t Demean “Invasives”: Conservation and Wrongful Species Discrimination.C. E. Abbate & Bob Fischer - 2019 - Animals 871 (9).
    It is common for conservationists to refer to non-native species that have undesirable impacts on humans as “invasive”. We argue that the classification of any species as “invasive” constitutes wrongful discrimination. Moreover, we argue that its being wrong to categorize a species as invasive is perfectly compatible with it being morally permissible to kill animals—assuming that conservationists “kill equally”. It simply is not compatible with the double standard that conservationists tend to employ in their decisions about who lives and who (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  27.  86
    What If Barron and Klein Are Right About Insect Sentience?Bob Fischer - 2016 - Animal Sentience 115.
    If Klein & Barron are right, then insects may well be able to feel pain. If they can, then the standard approach to animal ethics generates some implausible results. Philosophers need to develop alternatives to this framework to avoid them.
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  28.  88
    Focus on Fish: A Call to Effective Altruists.Max Elder & Bob Fischer - 2017 - Essays in Philosophy 18 (1):107-129.
    Effective altruists call us to apply evidence-based reasoning to maximize the effectiveness of charitable giving. In particular, effective altruists assess causes in terms of their scope, neglectedness, and tractability, and then recommend devoting resources to the cause that scores best on these criteria. So far, effective altruists concerned with animal suffering have seen these criteria as supporting interventions that improve the lives of layer hens, and they now seem to think that these criteria support directing efforts toward broilers. In this (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  29.  43
    Routledge Handbook of Animal Ethics.Bob Fischer (ed.) - 2019 - New York: Routledge.
    There isn’t one conversation about animal ethics. Instead, there are several important ones that are scattered across many disciplines. This volume both surveys the field of animal ethics and draws professional philosophers, graduate students, and undergraduates more deeply into the discussions that are happening outside of philosophy departments. To that end, the volume contains more nonphilosophers than philosophers, explicitly inviting scholars from other fields—such as animal science, ecology, economics, psychology, law, environmental science, and applied biology, among others—to bring their own (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  30.  81
    You Can't Buy Your Way Out of Veganism.Bob Fischer - 2016 - Between the Species 19 (1).
    Let’s make three assumptions. First, we shouldn’t support factory farms. Second, if animal-friendly agriculture lives up to its name—that is, if animals live good lives (largely free of pain, able to engage in species-specific behaviors, etc.) and are slaughtered in a way that minimizes suffering—then there is nothing intrinsically wrong with killing them for food. Third, animal-friendly agriculture does, in fact, live up to its name. Given these assumptions, it might seem difficult to criticize individuals who source their animal products (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   2 citations  
  31. Rawls Goes to Church.Bob Fischer - forthcoming - Theologica.
    Many mainline Protestant communities want to be welcoming while preserving their identities; they want to be shaped by the central claims of the faith while making room for those who doubt. And crucially, they want to do this in a way that leads to vibrant, growing communities, where more and more people gather to worship, encourage one another, and live out the Gospel. How should the Episcopal Church—and other mainline Protestant denominations, insofar as they’re similar—try to achieve these goals? I (...)
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  32. The ethical implications of panpsychism.Joseph Gottlieb & Bob Fischer - forthcoming - Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
    The history of philosophy is a history of moral circle expansion. This history correlates with a history of expansionism about consciousness. Recently, expansionism about consciousness has exploded: to invertebrates, to plants, to logic gates, and to fundamental entities. The last of these expansions stems from a surge of interest in panpsychism. In an exploratory spirit, this paper considers some largely uncharted territory: the ethical implications of panpsychism. Our conclusion is that while panpsychism probably does significantly expand our moral circle, it's (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  33.  87
    Categorical Desires and the Badness of Animal Death.Matt Bower & Bob Fischer - 2018 - Journal of Value Inquiry 52 (1):97-111.
    One way to defend humane animal agriculture is to insist that the deaths of animals aren’t bad for them. Christopher Belshaw has argued for this position in the most detail, maintaining that death is only bad when it frustrates categorical desires, which he thinks animals lack. We are prepared to grant his account of the badness of death, but we are skeptical of the claim that animals don’t have categorical desires. We contend that Belshaw’s argument against the badness of animal (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  34.  65
    Boycotting and Public Mourning.Bob Fischer - 2019 - Res Publica 26 (1):89-102.
    Some people feel that they should boycott Israel or their local anti-LGBTQ bakery, despite it being difficult to establish these obligations based on standard consequentialist or deontic considerations. I develop a framework on which such self-reports are accurate: I propose that we see some boycotting as akin to a public mourning practice, such as the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva. Mourning practices are complex and socially recognized ways of honoring the dead, as well as expressing and directing the range of (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  35.  32
    How to Reply to Some Ethical Objections to Entomophagy.Bob Fischer - 2019 - Annals of the Entomological Society of America 112 (6):511–517.
    Some people have moral objections to insect consumption. After explaining the philosophical motivations for such objections, I discuss three of them, suggesting potential replies. The first is that insect consumption ignores the precautionary principle, which we can gloss here as “Don’t know, don’t farm.” In other words, while there might be evidence that insects are not conscious, we do not know that they are not; so, we should not take the moral risk associated with killing them en masse. The second (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  36.  14
    Just Policy Paralysis?Clare Palmer & Bob Fischer - 2019 - Animal Sentience 3 (27).
    Treves et al. (2019) argue that policy making should include the interests and well-being of present and future generations of humans and nonhumans. There are deep and abiding conflicts of interest both between and within these groups. Trying to factor in so many considerations is likely to generate political gridlock. The authors need to explain how to avoid this.
    No categories
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  37.  46
    Is Abolitionism Guilty of Racism? A Reply to Cordeiro-Rodrigues.Bob Fischer - 2018 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 31 (3):295-306.
    Gary Francione is an abolitionist: he maintains that we ought to abolish the institutions and practices that support the exploitation of animals. He also believes that veganism is the “moral baseline” — that is, he thinks it’s morally required of nearly everyone in the developed world, and many beyond it. Luis Cordeiro-Rodrigues claims that abolitionism is guilty of racism, albeit “racism without racists.” I contend that his arguments for this conclusion aren’t successful.
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  38. Disassociation Intuitions.Bob Fischer & Isaac Wiegman - 2018 - Southwest Philosophy Review 34 (1):85-92.
    We should disassociate ourselves from wrongdoing. If Hobby Lobby is against LGBTQ rights, we shouldn’t shop there. If Old Navy sources their clothing from sweatshops, we shouldn’t buy them. If animals are treated terribly in factory farms, we shouldn’t eat the meat, eggs, and dairy products that come from them. Let’s call these disassociation intuitions. What explains the existence and force of disassociation intuitions? And based on that explanation, are they intuitions worth taking seriously? In other words, depending on the (...)
    Direct download (3 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  39. The Moral Objection to Modal Realism.Bob Fischer - 2017 - Erkenntnis 82 (5):1015-1030.
    If David Lewis's modal realism is true, then there are many, many people. According to Mark Heller, this is bad news. He takes modal realism (MR) to imply that "there are at least some cases in which it is permissible to let drowning children drown when it would be easy to save them." But since he holds the reasonable view that this is never permissible, he thinks that MR is false. Here, I argue that Lewis needn't be troubled by this (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  40. Against Blaming the Blameworthy.Bob Fischer - 2015 - In Ben Bramble & Bob Fischer (eds.), The Moral Complexities of Eating Meat. New York, US: Oxford University Press. pp. 185-198.
    We tend not to blame those who eat meat--even if they are blameworthy for so doing. Some think that this is a moral failure on the part of vegetarians and vegans. My aim here, however, is to argue that this isn't so. In short, I argue that if it would be unreasonable to demand that someone behave in a particular way, then we shouldn’t blame her for failing to behave in that way. But it would be unreasonable to demand that (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  41. TEM’s Details.Bob Fischer - 2016 - In Modal Justification via Theories. Cham: Springer.
    No categories
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  42. Introduction to Modal Epistemology After Rationalism.Felipe Leon & Bob Fischer - 2016 - In Bob Fischer & Felipe Leon (eds.), Modal Epistemology After Rationalism. Cham: Springer.
    No categories
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  43.  47
    Wild Fish and Expected Utility.Bob Fischer - 2017 - Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 8 (1):1-6.
    Its difficult to process the number of fish killed annually by the fishing industry. Nevertheless, governments are encouraging people to eat even more fishsee, e.g., the USDA dietary guidelinesand although animal advocates certainly dont concur with this advice, they generally havent prioritized fish in their lobbying efforts. Given the influence of utilitarianism on animal advocacy, the odds are good that this is motivated by an expected utility calculation. For those concerned about fish, is there any way to defend them against (...)
    Direct download (4 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark   1 citation  
  44.  21
    It/He/They/She: On Pronoun Norms for All, Human and Nonhuman.Bob Fischer & Alyse Spiehler - 2022 - Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 9.
    Many people in animal studies favor the use of gendered pronouns for nonhuman animals, even in cases where the animal’s sex is unknown. By contrast, many people in gender studies favor the use of the default singular they for humans. Our aim is to show that the most obvious ways of fitting these pronoun norm proposals together—a hybrid option (“he”/“she” for animals, “they” for humans) and a uniform one (i.e., default to the singular they when gender identity is unknown, regardless (...)
    No categories
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  45.  21
    Disgust and the logic of contamination: Biology, culture, and the evolution of norm (over)compliance.Isaac Wiegman & Bob Fischer - 2022 - Mind and Language 37 (5):993-1010.
    Many people feel compelled to disassociate themselves from wrongdoing. We call judgments to the effect “disassociation intuitions.” Do disassociation intuitions have a common cause? Why do they seem so obvious and resistant to countervailing reasons? How did they become so widespread? Here, we argue that disassociation intuitions are a natural product of gene‐culture co‐evolution. We also consider the mechanism that gene‐culture co‐evolution employed to achieve this result, arguing that a plausible candidate is disgust and its cultural echoes. This theory of (...)
    No categories
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  46.  50
    Shelly Kagan, "How to Count Animals, More or Less." Reviewed by.Bob Fischer - 2019 - Philosophy in Review 39 (4):180-182.
    No categories
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  47.  13
    Animals as Honorary Humans.Bob Fischer - 2018 - In Andrew Linzey & Clair Linzey (eds.), Ethical Vegetarianism and Veganism. Routledge.
    Many philosophers who defend veganism are not defending strict veganism. Although they think that you shouldn’t support animal agriculture, they also think there’s nothing wrong with eating roadkill, or meat from a dumpster. 1 Granted, they claim, there are a whole host of reasons not to support animal agriculture, but if an animal’s body is available due to an accident, or if consumption wouldn’t support animal agriculture, then eating is morally permissible. Let’s call the diet that these arguments require philosophical (...)
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  48.  25
    Animal Agriculture, Wet Markets, and COVID-19: a Case Study in Indirect Activism.Bob Fischer & Alyse Spiehler - 2021 - Food Ethics 6 (2).
    There were excellent reasons to reform intensive animal agriculture prior to COVID-19. Unfortunately, though, intensive animal agriculture has grown rapidly over the last century. All signs indicate that it will continue to grow in the future. This is bad news for billions of animals. It’s also bad news for those who want an animal-friendly food system. Because the public isn’t very concerned about the plight of animals—or is concerned, but has a high tolerance for cognitive dissonance—animal activists regularly engage in (...)
    No categories
    Direct download  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  49. Against Optimism.Bob Fischer - 2016 - In Modal Justification via Theories. Cham: Springer.
    No categories
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
  50.  42
    (1 other version)Animal Rights and Incredulous Stares.Bob Fischer - 2017 - Between the Species 20 (1).
    Based on the claim that animals have rights, Tom Regan ultimately endorses some radical conclusions: we ought to be vegans; it’s wrong to wear leather; we shouldn’t care about conserving species, but about respecting the rights of individual animals; etc. For many, these conclusions are unbelievable, and incredulous stares abound. Incredulous stares are not arguments, but they do force us to consider whether it might be reasonable for some people to reject Regan’s conclusions based on their considered beliefs. My aim (...)
    Direct download (2 more)  
     
    Export citation  
     
    Bookmark  
1 — 50 / 71