Ebook: Beastly Morality: Animals as Ethical Agents

Envisioning nonhuman animals as distinct moral agents marks a paradigm shift in animal studies. Drawing on ethics, religion, philosophy, law, ethology, and cognitive science, the essays in this collection test long-held certainties about moral boundaries and behaviors and prove that nonhuman animals possess complex reasoning capacities, sophisticated empathic sociality, and dynamic and enduring self-conceptions. Rather than claim animal morality is the same as human morality, this book builds an appreciation of the variety and character of animal moral sensitivities and perceptions across multiple disciplines, moving animal welfarism in promising new directions.

Featuring original essays by philosophers, ethicists, religionists, and ethologists, this collection demonstrates the ability of animals to operate morally, process ideas of good and bad, and think seriously about sociality and virtue.