On behalf of moderate speciesism

ABSTRACT Because of the existence of severely defective humans it is commonly held that whatever consideration is due to all humans is also due to many other animals, and that therefore speciesism, or the readiness to prefer the interest of humans to those of other animals, is unjustified. After criticism of this reasoning a 'naturalised' speciesism, acknowledging, for example, the affinities between species, is articulated and defended. A key to this defence is the separation of the task of specifying morally significant differences between humans and other animals from the task of justifying the extension of consideration to defective humans. The conclusion is that more traditional vices than speciesism are chiefly to blame for the shabby treatment of animals by humans.     

Animalizing women and feminizing (vegan) men: The psychological intersections of sexism,speciesism, meat,and masculinity

Images of sexualized women depicted as animals or alongside meat are routinely used in advertising in Western culture. Philosophers and feminist scholars have long theorized that such imagery reflects the lower status of both women and animals (vs. men) in society and argued that prejudiced attitudes towards women (i.e., sexism) and animals (i.e., speciesism) are interconnected, with meat-eating as a core symbol of masculinity. Addressing these key ideas from ecofeminist theory, we review the psychological evidence on the associations between sexism, speciesism, meat, and masculinity. Research on the animalistic dehumanization of women provides evidence that sexism and speciesism are psychologically entangled and rooted in desires for group-based dominance and inequality. Furthermore, research on the symbolic value of meat corroborates its masculine value expressing dominance and power, and suggests that men who abstain from meat consumption (e.g., vegans) are feminized and devalued, particularly by those higher in sexism. We conclude that a greater recognition of the interconnected nature of patriarchal gender relations and practices of animal exploitation, including meat-eating, can help in efforts to improve the status of both women and animals.     

The technology trap and the new humanism

The presumption that critical theory needs reloading for the 21^st century suggests the school of thought has to be reimagined in a way that refines its theoretical focus. Arguably, this refining is necessitated by the fact that the technological culture that the first generation of critical theorists believed was ushering in a new kind of barbarism has evolved considerably over the intervening years, and in a manner that renders more problematic than ever the Enlightenment promise of human freedom and self-determination. This article explores one form that the “spirit” of critical theory may take in light of contemporary techno-cultural advances. Extrapolating from the original articulation of the challenge confronting humanity by the Frankfurt School theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, it is argued that the intensification of the technological dynamic that sees human subjectivity subsumed under systems of control demands a reinvigorated critical response. The mutually sympathetic critiques of modern techno-culture offered by Jean Baudrillard and Byung-Chul Han are presented as embodying the spirit of critical theory for the 21^st century. Their focus on the hegemony of the ethos of technology opens up a way of reimagining the meaning of humanism in an age arguably more barbaric than the Frankfurt School theorists anticipated.     

Animal welfare and individual characteristics: a conversation against speciesism

It seems impossible for a human being not to have some point of view concerning nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) welfare. Many people make decisions about how humans are permitted to treat animals using speciesist criteria, basing their decisions on an individual's species membership rather than on that animal's individual characteristics. Although speciesism provides a convenient way for making difficult decisions about who should be used in different types of research, we argue that such decisions should rely on an analysis of individual characteristics and should not be based merely on species membership. We do not argue that the concept of species is never useful or important. To make our points, we present a conversation among a skeptic, an agnostic, and a proponent of the view that our moral obligations to an animal must be based on an analysis of that individual's characteristics. In the course of the discussion, concepts such as personhood, consciousness, cognitive ability, harm, and pain are presented, because one's understanding of these concepts informs his or her ethical decisions about the use of animals by humans.     

Rorty,religion, and humanism

This article offers a review of Richard Rorty’s attempts to come to terms with the role of religion in our public and intellectual life by tracing the key developments in his position, partially in response to the ubiquitous criticisms of his distinction between private and public projects. Since Rorty rejects the possibility of dismissing religion on purely epistemic grounds, he is determined to treat it, instead, as a matter of politics. My suggestion is that, in this respect, Rorty’s position is best construed as that of a humanist rather than a post-modernist. Ultimately, it appears that, in his view, the positive element of religion—i.e. the idea of religion as a social gospel—has been absorbed and transformed into a utopian striving which humanists associate with the ideal of democracy. Hence, in this regard, religion can be considered obsolete. Yet, without explicitly invoking the usual epistemic grounds, Rorty’s arguments for excluding religion from the public sphere remain rather thin, and an interest in reforming rather than excluding religion would have been more consistent with his general outlook.     

普遍人文主义与中国社会的现代化

二十世纪之初,中西文化、学术强烈交流、冲击的时代,深受西方十九世纪前半叶实证主义的影响,科学万能、科技救国的口号大行其道。新文化运动时期,在要科学、民主,就不能要传统文化和礼教,就不能要形上学和宗教,使合乎中道的人文精神受到严重的打压与破坏。知识分子心目中的人文思想及人道精神变得日益偏狭。此种科学与人文对立的形成,虽然在理论上非常脆弱,并且不乏非理性成份,