Pets and People

The Ethics of Our Relationships with Companion Animals

Edited by Christine Overall

The first anthology of philosophical articles about ethics and companion animals
Up-to-date and timely, taking into account the recent growth in philosophical research on human-animal interactions
Examines both the foundations of our moral responsibilities to companion animals and specific key issues related to the lives of companion animals
Special focus on dogs and cats, the animals most often chosen as pets

Pets and People

The Ethics of Our Relationships with Companion Animals

Edited by Christine Overall

Description

Animal ethics is generating growing interest both within academia and outside it. This book focuses on ethical issues connected to animals who play an extremely important role in human lives: companion animals ("pets"), with a special emphasis on dogs and cats, the animals most often chosen as pets. Companion animals are both vulnerable to and dependent upon us. What responsibilities do we owe to them, especially since we have the power and authority to make literal life-and-death decisions about them? What kinds of relationships should we have with our companion animals? And what might we learn from cats and dogs about the nature and limits of our own morality?

The contributors write from a variety of philosophical perspectives, including utilitarianism, care ethics, feminist ethics, phenomenology, and the genealogy of ideas. The eighteen chapters are divided into two sections, to provide a general background to ethical debate about companion animals, followed by a focus on a number of crucial aspects of human relationships to companion animals. The first section discusses the nature of our relationships to companion animals, the foundations of our moral responsibilities to companion animals, what our relationships with companion animals teach us, and whether animals themselves can act ethically. The second part explores some specific ethical issues related to crucial aspects of companion animals' lives--breeding, reproduction, sterilization, cloning, adoption, feeding, training, working, sexual interactions, longevity, dying, and euthanasia.

Pets and People

The Ethics of Our Relationships with Companion Animals

Edited by Christine Overall

Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction

PART I: The Nature of the Human/Companion Animal Relationship and its Ethical Foundations
1. Companion and Assistance Animals: Benefits, Welfare Safeguards, and Relationships Jean Harvey
2. Friendship with Companion Animals Cynthia Townley
3. Building a Meaningful Social World between Human and Companion Animals through Empathy Antonio Calcagno
4. Care, Moral Progress, and Companion Animals Maurice Hamington
5. A Two-Level Utilitarian Analysis of Relationships with Pets Gary Varner
6. "I Don't Want the Responsibility": The Moral Implications of Avoiding Dependency Relations with Companion Animals Kathryn Norlock
7. Ethical Behavior in Animals Bernard Rollin

PART II: Living with Companion Animals
8. Our Whimsy, Their Welfare: On the Ethics of Pedigree-Breeding John Rossi
9. Does Preventing Reproduction Make for Bad Care? Katherine Wayne
10. "Lassie, Come Home!": Ethical Concerns about Companion Animal Cloning Jennifer Parks
11. Reproducing Companion Animals Jessica du Toit and David Benatar
12. For Dog's Sake, Adopt! Tina Rulli
13. The Animal Lovers' Paradox? On the Ethics of "Pet Food" Josh Milburn
14. The Ethics of Animal Training Tony Milligan
15. Animal Assisted Intervention and Citizenship Theory Zipporah Weisberg
16. "Sex without All the Politics"? Sexual Ethics and Human-Canine Relations Chloë Taylor
17. Throw Out the Dog? Death, Longevity, and Companion Animals Christine Overall
18. The Euthanasia of Companion Animals Michael Cholbi

Pets and People

The Ethics of Our Relationships with Companion Animals

Edited by Christine Overall

Author Information

Christine Overall is Professor Emerita of Philosophy and University Research Chair, Queen's University, Ontario.

Contributors:

Jean Harvey
Cynthia Townley
Antonio Calcagno
Maurice Hamington
Gary Varner
Kathryn Norlock
Bernard Rollin
John Rossi
Katherine Wayne
Jennifer Parks
Jessica du Toit and David Benatar
Tina Rulli
Josh Milburn
Tony Milligan
Zipporah Weisberg
Chloë Taylor
Christine Overall
Michael Cholbi

Pets and People

The Ethics of Our Relationships with Companion Animals

Edited by Christine Overall

Reviews and Awards

"I welcome and celebrate this wonderful book that examines our relationships with the vulnerable, dependent, and delightful individuals with whom many of us live. The book as a whole is robust, illuminating, and gripping. The individual essays from the talented contributors are each remarkable. Altogether, it was a book I could not put down." -- Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat

"Pets and People is a most timely and significant book. This thoughtful and comprehensive compilation of original and wide-ranging essays centering on the nature of human-animal relationships -- anthrozoology -- is a must read for anyone interested in how we interact with other animals in myriad venues. Each time I reread it I learn something new. Pets and People is a game-changer, perfect for a wide variety of courses in the general field of human-animal studies and for interested non-academics." -- Marc Bekoff, author of Rewilding Our Hearts and The Animals' Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and Coexistence in the Human Age

"Billions of dollars a year are lavished on the welfare of our pets. We live with them, love them, and grieve for them. But we also abandon them, breed them in ways that cause them to suffer, and feed them on other animals that we care about much less. Pets and People is the first collection to explore such ethical concerns and contradictions of pet-keeping. The essays, by both bold new voices and distinguished scholars, explore questions including: Is pet-keeping justifiable? Can we be friends with animal companions? Is there something wrong with pedigree breeding? This collection is essential reading for anyone interested in the ethical dimensions of our relationships with pets." -- Clare Palmer, co-author of Companion Animal Ethics