Animal Ethics and the Nonconformist Conscience (eBook)

Philip Sampson is a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, UK. His previous publications include Faith and Modernity (1997); Six Modern Myths (2001); and contributions to several edited volumes on animal ethics and philosophy.

Series Editors’ Preface 6
Preface 8
Contents 12
Chapter 1 Speaking of Animals 13
Resources and Meanings 14
Strategies of Segregation 15
Language and Change 18
Ethical Debate, Modernity and Religion 19
Nonconformity and the ‘Animal Turn’ 20
Bibliography 22
Chapter 2 Animals, Language and Ethics 24
Changing Animals into Food 25
Changing Animals into Friends 27
Enlightenment, Darwinism and Secular Change 28
Secular World View 28
The Demise of Dominion Thought 29
The Structure of Dominion Thought 30
The Image of God 30
Dominion Over the Creatures 32
The Enlightenment Metanarrative 34
Bibliography 35
Chapter 3 A Modern Story of Animal Advocacy 38
Modern Estrangements 39
Animals and Humans 40
Accounting for Change 41
Secularisation 41
Humanitarianism 43
Rights 44
Darwinism 45
Postmodern Turn 47
Social Modernity and Change 48
Animal Commodities 48
Animal Industries 50
Animal Science 51
Technologies of the Body 52
A Lost Language of Animal Advocacy 52
Bibliography 53
Chapter 4 Innovation and Religious Discourses 56
Rediscovering Religious Discourse 57
Environmental Evidence 58
The Christian Heritage of the West 60
Radical Ways of Talking 61
Nonconformists and Animal Advocacy 63
Neglect and Disparagement 67
The Nonconformist Conscience 68
Creation, Fall, Redemption 69
Bibliography 70
Chapter 5 Creation: What on Earth Are Animals for? 73
The Consensus Narrative 73
Nonconformists and Dominion 74
Anthropocentrism in the Consensus Account 75
Nonconformists and Anthropocentrism 76
The End of the World 78
The Existence of Beasts 80
An Ontology of Care 80
The Harmony of Existence 82
The Experience of Beasts 84
The Soul of a Beast 85
Animal’s Rights 86
Animal-Human Relationships 87
Limited Lordship and Delegate Dominion 88
Nonconformist Dominion and Reform 90
Revising Discourses of Use 91
Bibliography 91
Chapter 6 Fall: Animal Suffering and Human Agency 95
The ‘Shock and Ruin of the World’ (Calvin 1551 [1851], 11.6) 95
Animal Suffering 96
A ‘Fiend Incarnate’ 97
Riotous Eaters of Flesh (Prov. 23.20) 98
‘It Was Sin That Made Us Butchers’ 99
‘Discord Among the Creatures of God’ 100
Creatures Grieve to Serve Us 101
‘Cry to God for Revenge’ 101
Human Duties and the Nonconformist Conscience 104
‘Deem It No Gloire to Swell in Tyranny’ (Sidney 1580 [1999], 225) 104
Horrid Cruelty 106
That Fearful Brand 107
Radical Animal Advocacy 109
Bibliography 109
Chapter 7 Redemption: Hope, Love and Restoration 113
A Soteriological Language 114
The Restoration of Animals 115
The Nonconformist Conscience 116
Private Transformation, Public Face 116
Hope and Reconciliation 119
God’s Tenderness 120
The Law of Tenderness 122
Eden’s Tenderness Restored 123
Animal Souls 124
The Persistence of Language 126
Bibliography 127
Chapter 8 A Persistent Language 130
The Persistence of Discourse 131
Traces and Meanings 132
Lords, not Tyrants 134
Rights and Tyranny 135
The Sacrifice of the Higher for the Lower 138
Postmodern Archeology 139
Bibliography 140
Chapter 9 Nonconformist Bricolage 142
The Postmodern Turn 142
Ethical Bricolage 144
Resources, Fragments, Meanings 145
Fragments Sustain and Nourish 145
Fragments Offer Specific Insights 148
All Creatures in Their Kind 148
Images of Sacrifice 149
Creation 151
Fall 152
Redemption 153
Fragments Unexpectedly Integrate 154
The Nonconformist Gaze 156
Discomfort of the Gaze 158
The Restoration of the World 159
Bibliography 160
Index 164