Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Psychology's Use Of Animals: Current Practices And Attitudes, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Kenneth J. Shapiro, PhD

In this chapter, I present a psychology primer for the uninitiated, with special emphasis on psychology's uses of animals. After sketching the scope of the field generally, I review available data on present numbers and species of animals used in psychological research, level of suffering induced and current trends. I also provide several concrete examples of psychological research involving animals. Finally, the chapter concludes with a presentation of attitudes of psychologists toward animals and these practices.

Against Totalitarianism: Agamben, Foucault, And The Politics Of Critique, C. Heike Schotten

C. Heike Schotten

De-Colonizar A Platón: Una Relectura De La Alegoría De La Cueva En El Contexto De La Toma, Cauca (De-Colonizing Plato: Reinterpreting The Allegory Of The Cave In The Context Of La Toma, Cauca), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

En este texto defiendo una interpretación política de la famosa alegoría de la cueva de Platón a partir de las experiencias de lucha de las comunidades negras contra la explotación minera en sus territorios ancestrales en La Toma, Cauca; interpretación que considero más adecuada a la hora de contemporaneizar la obra del filósofo griego para los proyectos emancipadores radicales de hoy, que aquella que defiende la filosofía política radical francesa.

The Intelligibility Of Extralegal State Action: A General Lesson For Debates On Public Emergencies And Legality, François Tanguay-Renaud

François Tanguay-Renaud

Some legal theorists deny that states can conceivably act extralegally in the sense of acting contrary to domestic law. This position finds its most robust articulation in the writings of Hans Kelsen and has more recently been taken up by David Dyzenhaus in the context of his work on emergencies and legality. This paper seeks to demystify their arguments and ultimately contend that we can intelligibly speak of the state as a legal wrongdoer or a legally unauthorized actor.

Stories From The Street: A Theology Of Homelessness By David Nixon, Laura Stivers

Laura Stivers

David Nixon in his book Stories from the Street: A Theology of Homelessness places stories of people who are homeless in dialogue with Christian scriptures, Church tradition, and particular theologies to construct a “theology of homelessness” (7). Drawing on liberation theology, Nixon argues that stories told by poor people can offer a deeper sense of the meaning of God and relationship, can reinvigorate the Christian story, and can in fact, change the world. Nixon shares a number of life histories of homeless people and teases out biographical and emotional themes from their stories in relation to spirituality. He also recounts …

Stories From The Street: A Theology Of Homelessness By David Nixon, Laura Stivers

Laura Stivers

David Nixon in his book Stories from the Street: A Theology of Homelessness places stories of people who are homeless in dialogue with Christian scriptures, Church tradition, and particular theologies to construct a “theology of homelessness” (7). Drawing on liberation theology, Nixon argues that stories told by poor people can offer a deeper sense of the meaning of God and relationship, can reinvigorate the Christian story, and can in fact, change the world. Nixon shares a number of life histories of homeless people and teases out biographical and emotional themes from their stories in relation to spirituality. He also recounts …

Foucault, Marxism And The Cuban Revolution: Historical And Contemporary Reflections, Sam Binkley, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

This article relates central themes of Marxist and Foucauldian thought to the intellectual and political legacy of the Cuban Revolution. Against the backdrop of a reading of Foucault’s relationship to the revolutionary left, it is argued that Marxist theoretical discourse on guerrilla struggle (as articulated by Mao, Guevara and others) provide an intriguing case for bio-political struggle. In the case of the Cuban revolution, an ethics of self-transformation appears in which new ways of living and practicing life are cultivated in opposition to sedimentations of state power. Moreover, in addition to this historical case, a discussion is offered of the …

Allowing Patients To Waive The Right To Sue For Medical Malpractice: A Response To Thaler And Sunstein, Tom Baker, Timothy D. Lytton

Timothy D. Lytton

This essay critically evaluates Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s proposal to allow patients to prospectively waive their rights to bring a malpractice claim, presented in their recent, much acclaimed book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. We show that the behavioral insights that undergird Nudge do not support the waiver proposal. In addition, we demonstrate that Thaler and Sunstein have not provided a persuasive cost-benefit justification for the proposal. Finally, we argue that their liberty-based defense of waivers rests on misleading analogies and polemical rhetoric that ignore the liberty and other interests served by patients’ tort law rights. …

A Queer Vegan Manifesto, Rasmus R. Simonsen

Rasmus R Simonsen, PhD

What does it mean for a person to declare her or his veganism to the world? How does the transition from one diet to another impact one’s sense of self? Veganism challenges the foundational character of how we “act out” our selves—not least of all in the context of sexuality and gender. In my paper, I am thus interested in the potential of veganism to disrupt the “natural” bond between gender formations and the consumption of animal products, as this relates to social and cultural genealogies. Consequently, I will explore a queer form of veganism that affirms the radical impact …

Public And Relational Communication Ethics In Political Communication: Integrity, Secrecy, And Dialogue In ‘The Contender’, Jon A. Hess, Joy Piazza

Jonathan A. Hess

There is no denying the omnipresence of media in the twenty-first century. One form of media that is particularly influential is film. Unlike print forms of entertainment, in which age and reading ability dictate accessibility, movies are accessible to virtually everyone. And, regardless of the producer's purpose for making the film, all movies provide an insight into our culture and the individuals who reside within it. Some movies are produced solely for entertainment value, but others seek to convey some type of message or to stimulate thought on the part of the viewer (Good & Dillon 2002; Kupfer 1999; Lipkin …

A Model Of Animal Selfhood: Expanding Interactionist Possibilities, Leslie Irvine

Leslie Irvine, PhD

Interaction between people and companion animals provides the basis for a model of the self that does not depend on spoken language. Drawing on ethnographic research in an animal shelter as well as interviews and autoethnography, this article argues that interaction between people and animals contributes to human selfhood. In order for animals to contribute to selfhood in the ways that they do, they must be subjective others and not just the objects of anthropomorphic projection. Several dimensions of subjectivity appear among dogs and cats, constituting a “core” self consisting of agency, coherence, affectivity, and history. Conceptualizing selfhood in this …

Animal Cognition, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic

Kristin Andrews, PhD

Debates in applied ethics about the proper treatment of animals often refer to empirical data about animal cognition, emotion, and behavior. In addition, there is increasing interest in the question of whether any nonhuman animal could be something like a moral agent.

Local Food Innovation In A World Of Wicked Problems: The Pitfalls And The Potential, Danielle Lake, Lisa Sisson, Lara Jaskiewicz

Danielle L Lake

Rational Engagement, Emotional Response, And The Prospects For Moral Progress In Animal Use “Debates”, Nathan Nobis

Nathan M. Nobis, PhD

This chapter is designed to help people rationally engage moral issues regarding the treatment of animals, specifically in experimentation, research, product testing, and education. Little “new” philosophy is offered here, strictly speaking. New arguments are unnecessary to help make progress in how people think about these issues. What is needed are improved abilities to engage the arguments already on the table, for example, stronger skills at identifying and evaluating the existing reasons given for and against conclusions on the morality of various uses of animals. To help improve these abilities, this chapter sets forth a set of basic but powerful …

Carl Cohen’S ‘Kind’ Arguments For Animal Rights And Against Human Rights, Nathan Nobis

Nathan M. Nobis, PhD

Carl Cohen’s arguments against animal rights are shown to be unsound. His strategy entails that animals have rights, that humans do not, the negations of those conclusions, and other false and inconsistent implications. His main premise seems to imply that one can fail all tests and assignments in a class and yet easily pass if one’s peers are passing and that one can become a convicted criminal merely by setting foot in a prison. However, since his moral principles imply that nearly all exploitive uses of animals are wrong anyway, foes of animal rights are advised to seek philosophical consolations …

Taking The “Pest” Out Of Pest Control: Humaneness And Wildlife Damage Management, John Hadidian

John Hadidian, PhD

Humans have been in the pest control business for a long time. At least 3 major foci of pest control activity currently can be found in governmental and private sectors, with private services focused on both traditional commensal rodent work as well as the more recent control of “nuisance” wildlife in cities and towns. Beyond the traditional approaches and techniques historically employed, animal damage managers are increasingly faced with the challenge of addressing the social context within which their work occurs. An ever-increasing variety of stakeholders have brought new concerns, new thinking, and new approaches to the table in a …

Framing The Issues In Moral Terms Iii: Rights And Right Conduct, Robert Williams

Robert E. Williams Jr.

The development of a global human rights culture has had a profound effect on the way discussions of military ethics are framed. This is most apparent in the development of the “responsibility to protect” norm amid a broader debate concerning military intervention to stop serious human rights abuses. With policymakers and international lawyers, many just war theorists have adopted an understanding of military ethics centered on human rights. This essay describes the development of the rights-based perspective on the use of force and its impact on key questions regarding the resort to war and just conduct in war.

The Myth Of The White Minority, Andrew Pierce

Andrew J. Pierce

In recent years, and especially in the wake of Barack Obama’s reelection, projections that whites will soon become a minority have proliferated. In this essay, I will argue that such predictions are misleading at best, as they rest on questionable philosophical presuppositions, including the presupposition that racial concepts like ‘whiteness’ are static and unchanging rather than fluid and continually being reconstructed. If I am right about these fundamental inaccuracies, one must wonder why the myth of the white minority persists. I will argue that by re-envisioning whites as a minority culture struggling against a hostile dominant group, and by promoting …

G. A. Cohen Why Socialism? Című Könyvéről (On G. A. Cohen’S Why Socialism?), Attila Tanyi

Attila Tanyi

Myths About The State Of Nature And The Reality Of Stateless Societies, Karl Widerquist, Grant Mccall

Karl Widerquist