Ethics Books

Indicators that the time is right for a Policy and Procedure program
* Are you within the 99% of companies which have ineffective controls over financial reporting due to a "lack" within Accounting and Finance documentation, policies and procedures?
* Does your documentation reside within many server repositories and not easily accessible by employees?
* Do different areas use the same term or acronym to mean different things?
* Does your company work cross functionally, not in silos and as a team?
* Does the documentation undergo a review and approval cycle?
* Are policies and procedures linked to internal controls and audit checklists?


It is time for a documentation strategy refresh when there is a need for:
* A clear hierarchy of documents with...
o Policy setting the rules and principles setting the tone from the top
o Procedure classifying work phases linked to policies
o Work Instructions identifying step by step details linked to procedures
* Document ownership of the content and accountability for deployment
* Standardized templates, and process which ensures cross functional content review and approval
* A focused Program Manager to coordinate and manage the strategy, content and program

More than
* GAAP
* Tasks
* Roles and responsibilities

Includes
* A complete Policy and Procedure Manual with ready-to-adapt templates
* Cross functional process definitions linking operations to accounting and finance
* A plan to implement project and program management

Policies and procedures represent the foundation of internal controls for organizations. It is important they be clearly written, current, and comprehensive. The author provides an excellent framework for organizations to use in establishing and updating policies and procedures. The book begins with a chapter on how to use the book. The book is structured as a final product that is supported by a Web site containing all the sample documents in Microsoft Word format. Rose explains the steps before getting started, followed by getting started with the program, developing the table of contents and a self assessment exercise. The rest of the book is devoted to sample policies and procedures. There is a continuity of structure for each document which details the scope, the policy, control/areas of responsibility, and contact and exhibit if necessary. Internal auditors are sometimes in a position where they recommend that management update policies and procedures or create them where none exist. This book is an excellent resource that auditors can use to steer management to as an example of a structured approach to policy and procedure development.

Scruton's presentation of true conservatism elsewhere is a marvelous apologetic for the worldview; this collection of essays treats various issues within art and its relation to society in the light of that worldview. To get the most out of this, one should read Sruton's thoughts on conservatism, but this book will still challenge you if you've not done so. It's recommended for those who consider themselves true consumers and producers of art for society - and don't let Scruton's conservatism scare you away from reading this. He will challenge you, and he might even get you to agree with him.

Roger Scruton is on of the truely inspired philosophers of our time. His breadth of learning is indeed staggering, and his ability to comment on a wide range of "human artifacts", (music, philosophy, politics) with humility and insight is as breathtaking as it is illuminating. This work on Aethetics spans the full range of what we (should?) consider humanity's attmpt to objectify its inner life in outward forms that give those less talanted, ideas and contexts to accomodate their highest aspirations. His work is among the best that rebuts the modern view that all such things are irredemiably "subjective" - a characterizaation that robs great works of art of their universal appeal and applicability, as well as their ability to lift us, however momentarily, above what Hegel called this life ("the highway of dispair") so that we can glimpse the finer aspects of our nature. Roger Scruton is to be congratulated for giving us hope that the Aesthetic spirit in humanity can triumph over the the mundane.

This volume includes the work of some of the leading figures in the science and religion love dialogue. The essays are the product of a conference entitled "Empathy, Altruism and Agape: Perspectives on Love in Science and Religion." Major funding for this 1999 conference came from the John Templeton Foundation and John Fetzer Institute.

"It is in the context of the dialogue between science, philosophy and spiritual traditions that this book addresses various views of the roles of altruism and egoism," writes editor Stephen G. Post (5). " Our intent in this book is to grapple honestly with current scientific questions about the existence of genuine altruism and to explore the nature of human other regarding motives and acts" (6). Among the tasks that the book addresses is the effort to understand better the emergence of altruism and empathy and how these contribute a greater capacity to love.

The book is organized into five sections. In the first, four essayists wrestle with the definitions of altruism, agape, and love. Elliott Sober defines altruistic behavior in his essay as enhancing the fitness of someone else at some cost in fitness to the donor. Sober's own position on the emergence of altruism and egoism is a pluralistic one in the sense that Sober recognizes that humans and other organisms have both egoistic and altruistic inclinations. Edith Wyschogrod writes as a phenomenologist who claims that moral experience begins with a claim upon the self to engage in other regarding acts. In this sense ethical meaning arises in the encounter with another human. Jerome Kagan, a psychologist, asserts that the human being is utterly unique emergent from evolution with a moral sense. It was with the evolution of the human brain that humans could evaluate vice and virtue. Stephen G. Post examines the tradition of agape in light of altruism and altruistic love. According to Post, altruistic love does not eclipse the care of the self, but it effectively affirms participation in the being of the other. "Altruism is other regarding, either with regard to actions or motivations; altruistic adds the features of deep affirmative affect to altruism; agape is altruistic love universalized all humanity as informed by theistic commitments" (56). Despite universalization, however, "agape forces us to honestly the ordering of our love and care with respect to both the nearest and the very neediest on the face of the earth" (59).

The second section of the book takes up the social scientific research and addresses this in this relationship to altruism and love. This section notes that observing or measuring motivations with regard to love is very difficult. Lynn Underwood addresses data from selected studies and attempts to map a conceptuality of love from the social science perspective. She wrestles with basic notions of love, self, context and freedom among other things. In his essay, C. Daniel Batson challenges the common assumption that all behavior is selfish. Batson's "empathy/altruism" hypothesis is that other-oriented emotional response evokes a motivational state with the ultimate goal of increasing the other's welfare. Batson looks at more than 25 experiments to distinguish between self-directed motives and truly altruistic motives. Batson says that the tentative conclusion from his studies is that feeling empathy for a person in need does evoke altruistic motivation to help that person.

Kristen Renwick Monroe defines altruism in terms of actions rather than motives. Monroe suggests that perception of the self in relation to others strongly affects decisions to be altruistic. Finally, Samuel Oliner analyzes altruistic behaviors of rescuers of Jews during WWII and volunteers working with the dying. He characterizes altruism as actions that are (1) directed toward another, (2) involve a high risk or sacrifice to the actor, (3) are accompanied by no external reward and (4) voluntary. After examining data of the two groups, both the rescuers and those involved in hospice, Oliner concludes that there is no single motivating explanation that triggers people to behave compassionately for the welfare of others. However, Gentile rescuers who risked their lives for Jews had learned compassion, caring norms, and responsibility for diverse others from parents and others in authority. Hospice volunteers exhibited a higher degree of intrinsic religiosity, despite a lower incidence of affiliation with mainstream religious traditions. Oliner suggests that social institutions, whether they be religious, educational or in the workplace, need to reconsider their roles and responsibilities so that they might foster kind and loving acts.

The third section of the book takes up the debates within evolutionary biology and psychology with regard to egoism and altruism. Michael Ruse outlines the genecentric sociobiological perspective on altruism. He asserts that a Darwinian interpretation of social behavior and morality requires that organisms be reproductively beneficial. Stephen Pope addresses the varieties of love from the perspective of theology and biology and speaks of an ordering of loves. Pope suggests that appropriate altruism comes out of who we are rather than being an imposition that occurs contrary to our deepest native needs and desires. "I believe the goods valued by both the moral egoists and the moral altruists can be assimilated and properly coordinated within a balanced interpretation of the ordering of love" (170). David Sloan Wilson and Elliott Sober consider the history of altruism and evolutionary biology. They note the fluctuation that the history of altruism has had but hope that altruism will find a permanent place in dominant evolutionary thinking.
Melvin Konner reviews data from evolutionary biology, primatology, and anthropology. He describes obstacles to altruism and notes that evolutionary theory makes most disinterested forms of altruism problematic. In particular, aggression in both non-humans and humans makes altruism problematic. Jeffrey P. Schloss surveys evolutionary approaches to human cooperative behavior and notes that the good news is that current theory is conciliate in its affirmation of that natural basis for genuine other regard within kinship or social groups. The challenging news, however, is that the counterpart of such affiliation is exclusion towards those outside those groups. There is no biological theory proposed for how out-group sacrifice and "love your enemy" altruism can come about. "If the struggle for existence is the engine of natural selection and survival of the fittest is the direction of travel, then those organisms that sacrifice their biological well-being for the good of another will be kicked off the train" (214).

The fourth section of the book considers the emotional aspects of altruistic love by focusing on the role of empathy in both humans and non-humans. This section discusses the evolutionary advantages of particular anatomical, physiological, and psychological developments. Essayists considers how developments in these fields provide a basis for varied forms of altruism. Neuroscientist Thomas Insel discusses his work in neurochemistry and neurophysiology in rodent species. His findings point to the possibility that in human beings subtle genetic variations may underlie individual differences in the capacity and inclination for attachment and other forms of altruistic behavior. Neurologist Antonio Damasio discusses evolutionary origins of emotions and feelings, their fundamental adaptive value, and the extension in the empathetic processes that allow human sociality and altruism. He notes that the emotions use the body as their theater. The foundational processes of emotion and feeling, coupled with an individual's ability to know of the existence of such emotions and feelings in the self and others, are the basis of what is best in humans, including conscience, ethical rules and the codification of law. Hanna Damasio discusses case reports of patients with damage to the portion of the brain that appear critical in the foundational processes of altruism. She concludes that there is a system in certain sections of the prefrontal cortex that is critical for the learning and maintenance of certain aspects of social behavior that pertain to interpersonal relationships. Damage to this results in defective decisions regarding altruism. Her work underscores the claim that the capacity for altruism has a physical foundation.

Primatologists Stephanie Preston and Frans deWaal consider the behaviors and linkage between humans and non-humans. They report on what appears to be a degree of cognitive empathy among the great apes. Empathy is a general class of behavior that exists across species to different degrees of complexity. The data from primatology warns against drawing demarcation lines between humans and other animals with respect to emotional aspects of empathy. The basis in emotional and social connectedness is crucial to an understanding of empathy and altruism because is creates the bridge between ultimate and proximate explanations and between philogeny and ontogeny. William B. Hurlbut concludes the section with his own chapter on empathy, evolution , and altruism. He claims that the beginning of sociality are seen even in the most primordial configurations of living matter. "Among the earliest lifeforms, organisms drew information from one another to pattern and coordinate such basic biological functions as reproduction and nourishment" (310). Empathy is a form of intersubjectivity in which the observer actually participates in the feelings of the other. Hurlbut notes that the idea the human life has a moral dimension and this is in some sense a product of the universe is at odds with prevailing scientific culture. To assert an objective ethical order within nature would be to affirm teleology, the reality of human freedom, and the unique status of our species. Hurlbut argues that "for all the controversy concerning the possibility of genuine generosity and altruistic love, at the levels of life, amid the sounds of the street and the strivings and struggles, there is everywhere, in small or greater degrees, the evidence of love. Many people, perhaps most, in some way give the effort and energy of their lives from a belief in love and the desire to build a better world. If there is a natural sentiment and hope, it is that love is real" (325).

The fifth section looks at altruistic love from a religious context. Don S. Browning suggests that evolutionary biology is moving religious thinkers toward a synthesis model in which love is understood as having both altruistic and egoistic aspects. Browning argues that the moral theologian "would finally ground the sacrificial element in love on the Christian's belief in the infinite value of the other and on the sense that some acts of self sacrifice are both willed and empowered by God, even though self-sacrifice, as such, might not be seen as the central goal of Christian love" (344). Gregory L. Fricchione interprets human religious expression as an outgrowth of evolutionary developments centered around separation and attachment theory. Fricchione claims "separation/attachment is a common referent conferring extensional identity across different conceptual levels of complexity" (354). Agape is a healthy synthesis of self-affirming/self-realizing love with self-giving love. Reuben L. F. Habito concludes the volume by speaking of compassion and love from a Buddhist perspective. The compassionate life from a Buddhist perspective is an outflow of the wisdom that truly sees the way things are. The view of reality that overcomes the separation of self and other. Habito suggests that Buddhism offers a valuable contribution in forging a common future as the earth community.

Thomas Jay Oord

The concept of altruism, or disinterested concern for another's welfare, is a common human characteristic, and has been discussed by everyone from theologians to biologists. This volume brings together renowned researchers from various disciplines to examine the evolutionary, neurological, developmental, psychological, social, cultural, and religious aspects of altruistic behavior.

Altruism is most famously recognized as occurring within a biological family, often called kin-altruism. However in human societies altruism goes well beyond mere familial relations and is "widely lauded and is commonly considered the foundation for a moral life." (pg. 3) Altruism is recognized as affirmation and care for another person for their own benefit, regardless of how their benefit impinges upon one's own success.

But can true altruism be explained under evolutionary theory? E.O. Wilson claims that "Human behavior--like the deep capacities for emotional response which derive and guide it--is the circuitous technique by which human genetic material has been and will be kept intact. Morality has no other demonstrable function." Under this account, real altruism does not exist, for there is always some mechanistically based "selfish" behavior guiding any altruistic act.

For example, Darwinian philosopher Michael Ruse argues that a Darwinian interpretation of social behavior and of the morality that underlies it requires that they be reproductively beneficial. Thus Ruse writes that "all organisms including ourselves are the products of evolution" and "animal behavior must itself be subject to natural selection." (pg. 153) Natural selection often rewards cooperation; however, Ruse maintains that genetically "selfish" behaviors do not necessarily entail consciously selfish behavioral motives. But ultimately, these behaviors must exist due to an evolutionary past where they enabled their underlying genes to reproduce. Under evolution, "human moral behavior ... has to be such that it is going to serve the individual." (pg. 158). Under Ruse's view, "Darwinian evolutionary biology is nonprogressive, pointing away from the possibility of our knowing objective morality" and thus "Darwinian evolutionary theory leads one to a moral skepticism, a kind of moral nonrealism." (pg. 165)

Discovery Institute fellow Jeffrey P. Schloss argues that there are some behaviors that remain unaccounted for under Neo-Darwinism:
"Human beings often manifest radically sacrificial, consequentially altruistic behavior that reduces reproductive success without compensatory reciprocation or kinship benefit. Behaviors such as voluntary poverty, celibate orders of benevolence, Holocaust rescuers, and religious asceticism or martyrdom are examples in humans that have provoked reconceptualism or substantial refinement of evolutionary approaches to human altruism. And even less extreme behaviors, such as adoption of non-kin, anonymous philanthropy, and costly investment in reproductively inert endeavors such as art or funeral caches have stimulated the extension or nuancing of initial sociobiological accounts." (p. 221; internal citations omitted)

According to Schloss, highly sacrificial acts or reproductive sacrifice are unaccounted if "the calculus of biological benefit ... remains tied to fitness." (pg. 235) Schloss concludes that "in the last analysis, either we deny the existence or importance of the human propensity toward counterreproductive behavior or we invoke accounts of its origin that posit some measure of uncoupling from genomic evolution and concomitant transcendence of biological constraints." (pg. 235-236)

This is a lively debate that is unlikely to be settled soon. However, Altruism and Altruistic Love provides a wide range of views from leading thinkers in this diverse field.

This is a great introduction to the ideas of Gregory Bateson, one of the most important thinkers of our times. He is able to bridge the gap between our ideas about a materialistic world and concepts of mind. He said that Western science did not explain mind, it explained mind away.

Anyone who feels that there is more to life than logic and science, but who doesn't feel comfortable with every new age quack idea, should read this book. Bateson's thesis is that aesthetics, beauty, and the sacred are as valid as ways of knowing as logic and science are, and he can back that up with real ideas about the real world.

Gregory Bateson is well known, among those with the perseverance to wrestle through his very compact prose, for his highly original synthesis of cybernetics, biology, anthropology and -- above all -- epistemology. Near the end of his one book written with a general audience in mind (Mind and Nature), he mentions his intention to continue his explorations into the realms of the sacred and the aesthetic. By the time of his death in 1980 he had written several drafts and discussed the project in depth with his daughter Mary Catherine Bateson, an investigator of great insight in her own right and a better writer than Gregory's devotion to formal rigor allowed him to be. This book is the end result of that collaboration, which Mary completed in 1986. Those familiar with Gregory's work will find some of his familiar themes explored in somewhat more accessible terms, along with some unexpected new ideas. As with his earlier works, Bateson often has to redefine some familiar words, and introduce new usages for others, which makes reading him a struggle, but a rewarding struggle in the long run. Those familiar with Mary Catherine's work will not be disappointed either. Her summarizing chapter which pulls together the various strands of the book and of her father's thought is a masterpiece of synthesis in its own right. And this book, which is above all about *relationships* at every level from the cellular to the cultural to the religious, is a fascinating record of the very human relationship between father and daughter. Like all of the elder Bateson's work, this one will take some time to digest. How much have I learned from it about "the epistemology of the sacred"? I expect it will take years to find out, and that I'll be revisiting this book many times while its implications work themselves out. As G.B. said, Life is a game whose purpose is discovering the rules. This volume is a voyage of discovery.

Plato... Descartes, Nietzsche, Heidegger... the whole pseudo-science of philosophy never really has added anything to real scientific knowlegde in my opinion as it's only about opportune, highly culture-bound, time-sensitive personal views; and within that context the view of a garbage collector has the same worth to me these days as some read-it-all ethic. So I am definitely not "into" human sciences like philosphy - as an artist painter have to read/see all of course - but I'll make an exception toward Animal Others (yeah, my 1st review ever!).

In a field where the just mentioned opportune human thought estranges more and more from natural reality into ethic-technical constructions, Animal Others stands the barricade. Full of new - or probably carefully ignored! - insights, there is no other publication like it to compare at the moment to my knowlegde. The compilation of Animal Others shuns no taboos for a start. No... I won't give anything away here, but just thought of a good hint: it advocates "animal rights" while making a laugh at contemporary animal-rights-philosophers like Barbara Noske, or downright loonies in that field like Carol Adams and the PETA-like organisations. Yup, it's often hilarious reading as well!

Having read Animal Others I think there might be an increasing chance that contemporary western culture - of which it is an exponent of course - will find back its roots in the animal kingdom. After all we're just another mammal species. It's at least interesting to see that recently publications like this one and for example (by B. Bagemihl) appear on the shelves....

Animal Others; there's only one editorial flaw in it that I can think of; it should be "Animal Sames". We're all one! Therefor: full marks.

I thought that this book offered a new look at animal issues and animal ethics. It is also entertaining and readable. Some of the philosophy can be difficult for a novice but it is worth working through it all. I hope that more books like this on such an important topic get published in the future. Thanks!

I almost didn't buy this book because I was put off by it's cover. It just looked outdated.
But I own just about everything written about animal rights so I picked it up to add to my library.
It has turned out to be one of my favorite books because it's beautifully written with excellent logic.
If you have ever had difficulty explaining your position on an animal rights issue, to a non-animal person, read this book.
And then read it again.
A perfect blend of logic, ethics and moral behavior.

I purchased B.Rollin's book to help me write an animal rights paper for my Business Law class. I found myself totally engrossed in the book. It was wonderfully written, and had so much information that writing my paper was a breeze. But I recommend this book for anyone who is an animal lover and disagrees with product testing on animals. It will definately open your eyes.

In Animals as Persons -- which is composed of seven separate essays, given thematic unity by an introductory section -- Francione explains, clarifies, and elaborates on the major themes of the abolitionist approach to animal rights, which are as follows:

-- The abolitionist approach to animal rights is based on veganism as the rejection of the commodity status of nonhumans and a recognition of their inherent value;

-- as long as animals are property, they can never be members of the moral community;

-- sentience is all that is rationally required for membership in the moral community;

-- animal welfare fails to provide significant protection for animal interests and because it allows the use of animals in circumstances in which we use no humans, it necessarily deprives animals of equal consideration.

The latter point is demonstrated by a number of so-called ''major victories'' of animal advocacy in the past dozen years (and before) which Francione criticizes, among other things PETA's (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) agreement with McDonald's on higher slaughter standards for its meat suppliers and on providing increased space for hens in egg batteries.

Francione also tackles the ecofeminist approach to animal ethics, responds to some objections to his theory of the property status of animals, analyses the use of animals in biomedical research, and refutes the argument made in Tom Regan's book The Case for Animal Rights (1983) that throwing a dog out of a lifeboat in order to save a human would be required by rights theory.

Francione shows the objections with which the abolitionist approach continually has to contend to be invalid; indeed, the clarity, soundness, and consistency of abolitionism make its being dismissed, especially by self-identifying animal rights advocates, difficult to explain. Excellently written and easy to read, this book is a significant part of a work which, as I hope, will reach an increasingly wide audience and obtain due recognition worldwide as by far the most important contribution to animal rights theory to date.

No where will you find more compelling and succinct arguments in favor of the rights of animals. Gary will leave you wishing you had his undeniable gift for communicating what is in his mind to the spoken (or written) word. In plain talk, he's fierce!

(Originally published at ananimalfriendlylife.com)

Working Animals as Persons: Essays on on the Abolition of Animal Exploitation into my ridiculous schedule was relatively easy, in part because the book is comprised of individual, self-contained essays that allowed me to conveniently break my reading up into manageable sessions as time permitted. You might find this helpful as well. While the essays range in length, none of them are terribly long (particularly after the first two), and together they all provide an excellent and highly readable introduction to Professor Francione's abolitionist theory of animal rights. If you are one of those people who have put off reading his earlier books due to time constraints or for any other reason, this might be an ideal place to start.

I recommend not skipping over the introduction, particularly if you've never read Francione before. In it, he gets right to the pivotal assertion that the animal advocacy movement is, in effect, two very different movements: one that seeks to abolish animal exploitation by eradicating the property status of animals, and the other a movement that seeks the regulation of animal-using industries while failing to effectively challenge the property status of animals.

He expands on the core concepts of abolitionism in the first chapter, "Animals as Persons." That essay is itself a relatively brief but thorough presentation of Francione's theory as developed more fully in Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? (ITAR) While it is not a substitute for reading that book, "Animals as Persons" is a very clear essay that will quickly have you up to speed on the basic concepts.

The next chapter is an essay called "Reflections on Animals Property & The Law (Ethics And Action) and Rain Without Thunder Pb." In it, Francione responds to various critics who have argued that the property status of animals does not necessarily prevent advocates from improving animal welfare, and that animal welfare regulation is an effective way of moving incrementally toward recognition that animals have more than the value that we assign to them.

You don't necessarily need to have read the two books to appreciate "Reflections," though I'm sure I got more out of it because I had. I found the essay particularly interesting because Francione deconstructs real-world legislation such as Florida's gestation crate ban and California's foie gras ban. While he frequently deconstructs current events on his blog, as he did with the announcement that KFC Canada would adopt a controlled-atmosphere killing policy, these case studies offer new readers relevant and useful applications of his abolitionist theory.

In his third essay, "Taking Sentience Seriously," Francione focuses on flaws in the "similar-minds" theory, a critical analysis all the more relevant in light of news that Spain's parliament plans to extend legal rights to life and freedom for great apes. Based as it is on cognitive abilities rather than sentience, this pending legislation is a case in point for Francione, so you'll definitely want to read chapter 3 if you don't know why this seemingly good news is a bad precedent for animal rights.

Returning to his critics, chapter four's essay, "Equal Consideration," focuses specifically on Cass Sunstein's review of ITAR, in which he claims that Francione fails to justify why animal advocates should not focus on regulating human treatment of animals rather than abolishing animal use. This gives Francione an excellent opportunity to point out some fatal flaws in Sunstein's thinking, along with that of Jeremy Bentham and Peter Singer, who seem to believe that some sentient beings have no interest in continuing to live, despite the logical implication that their very sentience gives these animals an interest in continued existence.

Francione's fifth essay examines the justifications for vivisection, which he also covers in IATR (along with descriptions of numerous specific experiments). Here, too, he observes that even if there is some plausible empirical claim for necessity, this form of animal use cannot be morally justified. "The Use of Nonhuman Animals" is one of the clearest, most concise critiques of vivisection I have read, from both the empirical and moral points of view. While the empirical section should be sufficient in and of itself to clear up any confusion as to whether vivisection is as valuable as is usually claimed, Francione footnotes our way to additional resources, and of course he follows this up with a moral critique that is impossible to refute without engaging in hypocrisy.

His next essay, "Ecofeminism and Animal Rights," is actually a 1996 review of Beyond Animal Rights: A Feminist Caring Ethic for the Treatment of Animals, in which he examines arguments made against animal rights and for an "ethic of care." Like Cass Sunstein's review of IATR, essays in Beyond Animal Rights suggest that we do not need to end the institutionalized exploitation of nonhuman animals in order to include them within the moral community, and even go as far as to actually legitimize that exploitation, ironically perpetuating speciesist hierarchy at the same time that they condemn the rights view as hierarchical. Francione swiftly and effectively counters these views.

Finally, Francione turns his attention to perhaps the world's best-known animal rights author and philosopher, Tom Regan, who in his seminal The Case for Animal Rights made a sustained, comprehensive, and complex philosophical argument for animal rights. In it, he presents the "lifeboat case," a hypothetical scenario he resolves in part by claiming that death is a greater harm to humans than it is to nonhumans such as dogs. Francione critiques this view with "Comparable Harm and Equal Inherent Value," a 1995 essay updated with a 2008 postscript to respond to the new preface Regan wrote in 2004 for the second edition of The Case for Animal Rights, in which he responded to critics of his lifeboat example.

One of the few drawbacks of gathering together all these different essays is that, even though the case studies and responses to specific criticisms may prompt you to understand Francione's abolitionist theory more clearly, you frequently end up reading the same thing you've read elsewhere in his work, including other essays in this book, and sometimes nearly even verbatim. However, it is that very deja vu experience that reminds you how so many supposedly different debates always come back to the fundamentals, which we would do well to learn... and that may just be the reason Francione keeps repeating them.

In recapping his abolitionist animal rights theory and defending it with such precision, clarity, and authority, Gary Francione successfully reasserts the view that nonhuman animals will not be meaningfully protected from unnecessary harm so long as they are considered human property, and that welfare reforms or variations on the theme are incapable of leading to their emancipation. Animals as Persons is a must-read for anyone claiming to support or to even simply be interested in animal rights.

The illustrations in this book are GORGEOUS. They are so sweet, charming, and memorable. I love looking at every one of them. I actually want two of these books --- one to keep on the kids' shelf, and another to keep on MY shelf, because I want this book to stay in gorgeous shape. I just adore it, and know what I am giving as stocking stuffers to all the children I know this holiday season. Dimotta is a real talent -- his animals just make me smile. So, so sweet.

Marc Bekoff's Animals at Play is a delightful and informative book that gives children the tools to understand the importance of play in an animal's life. The book provides detailed information about how animals go about engaging friends or family members in a bit of fun and also explains how they indeed abide by rules during these social interactions. The illustrations are amusing and thoughtful and accurately depict how a variety of animals play as they run, chase, wrestle or just stroke each other. Children will truly enjoy learning something new while reading Animals at Play: Rules of the Game!

In this clearly argued book, Rowlands claims that it is simply unjust to harm animals. As conscious, sentient beings, biologically continuous with humans, they have interests that simply can't be ignored. Using simple principles of justice, he argues that animals have moral rights, and examines the consequences of this claim in context to vegetarianism, animal experimentation, zoos, hunting, as well as the animal rights activism that has resulted from the recognition by a fairly small group of political activists that animals can't simply be considered in relation to humans.

I used this book this semester in a course "Ethics & Animals Like Us" (the course title was inspired by this book). The students really liked the book. I think they found him much more readable, easy-to-understand and convincing than Tom Regan or Peter Singer. Rowlands has a rather "hip" writing style as well; more enjoyable than standard academic prose.

Rowland's moral perspective is basically this: an action is morally OK only if you'd be willing to allow it to happen *IF* you didn't know who you were. So, racist actions are wrong because you wouldn't want people to treat you that way if you were of race X; sexist actions are wrong because you wouldn't want to be treated that way if you were of sex Y.

Similarly, if you didn't know if you were a human or a non-human, would you want a system might allow you to suffer greatly and die young so that others could experience the (comparatively trivial) pleasures of eating you? Or would you want a system where you could be tortured and killed in a lab to satisfy some scientists' curiosity, or electrocuted or gassed so someone could wear your skin and try to look cool (but actually look like an idiot)? Definitely not! Rowlands argues that since it would be irrational to choose such a world -- if you didn't know your species -- it's immoral for these things to happen in the actual world. Basically, it comes down to seeing things from the others' point of view, walking in their shoes (or paws).

This is a really great book (the forward by Colin McGinn is excellent as well); everyone should read it and see practical ethics at its best. It should be yet another thorn in the side of those who who torture and kill animals for fun and profit, as well as those who support them, and have nothing of any merit to say in their own defense.

One thing the book lacks is a "for further reading". ...

I've grown very accustomed to defending the Biblically-based ideas of Andrew Linzey to those "Christians" who know little about God's Word and even less of His love and mercy, and this compilation is a wonderful addition to his impressive list of writings. This was the book that first introduced me to him, and others, in this fascinating field of Biblical thought. Highly recommended!

In 'Animals on the Agenda', Andrew Linzey and Dorothy Yamamoto have put together a good collection of essays and articles on the study of animals and theology. American and European contributors have come together to discuss questions that often perplex people from childhood onward -- do animals have souls? What is the proper attitude toward animals? Are they merely resources, or do they have rights?

Much of theology divides the world into two classes -- creation and humanity; animals almost always get lumped in with the rest of creation, with little or no recognition of the sentient character of their being. Mainstream Christianity and Judaism still propagate ideas that are harmful to animals -- although, in the kosher laws of Judaism, respect of the living character of animals has always had a certain prominence, and more recently Christianity has dealt with the idea of animals as a valuable part of creation, worthy of respect and not merely exploitation by humanity.

This book is primarily one of Christian theological perspectives -- I mention Judaism because many of the issues overlap, and many of the essays in this text will be informative for people of both traditions.

This is not to say that the Christian or Jewish perspective must embrace vegetarianism, or suddenly convert to a radical elevation of the animal kingdom above that of humanity. While many Eastern religions have historically and theologically embraced what Westerners often consider an extreme point of view on animals, there is insight to be gained from them, as well. For 2000 years in the Christian tradition, and longer in the Jewish tradition, animals have had not only a low status, but often no status.

'Animals are subordinate to humankind, who have been given 'dominion' (commonly understood as despotism) over them. How far these ideas are distinctly or authentically Christian is beside the point; the fact is that the Christian tradition has propagated them--and still defends them.'

Does an ethical sensitivity to animals represent a rejection of traditional theology? Many saints have been represented as having close, harmonious relations with animals (and not just St. Francis). It is true that most moral and systematic theologies have ignored animals, or relegated them to nothing more than a tool. Interestingly, Linzey states that the current state of theology is more open to the idea of aliens than to animals. In the speculation about possible life beyond the earth, some theologians already allow access to the divine.

'Such theological open-mindedness, not to mention open-heartedness, to other non-human alien species is hardly ever directed to other non-human but non-alien animal species.'

This collection is very much a beginning. By looking at scriptural perspectives on animals in the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament, church traditional perspectives (both catholic and protestant), examining disputed questions such as 'do animals have souls?' and 'what is the purpose of animal suffering?', and finally looking at ethical obligations to animals, this collection is a pioneering work that opens the door to further, more fruitful discussions in modern theology of the place of animals.

The title of the final essay, 'Is the Consistent Ethic of Life Consistent without a Concern for Animals?' perhaps best sums up the approach -- life in its diversity must include animals. This is not to elevate them above the place of humanity, or even to put them on an equal footing in all things, but to give them their rightful place, and proper compassion and respect.