What Is Promising About a Radical Kantian Animal Ethic

Abstract

This chapter introduces the idea of ‘Kantianism for Animals’: An amended version of Kant’s moral philosophy which recognises duties towards animals. If Kantianism includes animals as moral patients, animal ethicists can put Kantian philosophical resources—notions, distinctions, arguments—to more helpful, creative, and interesting use. Furthermore, including duties to animals in a Kantian framework shows that tying morality to autonomy is not sufficient to deny moral status to animals. The chapter also makes explicit the book’s agenda: Kant’s philosophy is to be used constructively, it is to be revised, and duties to animals are to be set on equal philosophical footing with duties to other human beings.