Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility

by Martha C. Nussbaum

It took someone from outside the animal rights movement to innovate a breakthrough approach to animal rights. As one of America’s foremost thinkers on law and ethics, Martha Nussbaum is the powerhouse to do it. Nussbaum dissects and dismantles prior theories about animal justice, which are limited to whether animals feel pain or if they’re “so like us.” Her “Capabilities Approach” is about giving striving beings a chance to flourish and to live lives compatible with their dignity and striving, including the ability to enjoy good health, to plan, to move freely, protect one’s imagination and senses, have a variety of social relationships and control one's environment and dwelling. Nussbaum devotes an entire chapter to the role of law in enforcing these rights based on a more up to date, scientifically valid view of animal rights. I’m rooting for a world where we live in reciprocity with, rather than domination of, animals and nature.