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Books : The Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes to Speciesism
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The Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes to Speciesism by: RYDER |
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Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 179.3 EAN: 9780631152392 ISBN: 0631152393 Label: WileyBlackwell Manufacturer: WileyBlackwell Number Of Pages: 350 Publication Date: November 09, 1989 Publisher: WileyBlackwell Studio: WileyBlackwell Sales Rank: 982550 Related Items:
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Editorial Review: Amazon.co.uk Review: "The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But can they suffer?" Jeremy Bentham's 1789 dictum lies at the heart of Richard D Ryder's very modern thinking. Psychologist, ethicist, historian: it is, however, a fourth dimension, his campaigning, which gets up the noses of those who embrace tradition and revere a self-defined notion of "natural" above Nature itself. Twenty years ago Ryder coined the term "speciesism" to describe the prejudicial attitudes of humans to nonhumans (he is inclined against the word "animals" when not inclusive of humans), controversially giving its similar status to racism and sexism. Animal Revolution was first published in 1989; this update, 10 years on, refines the theory to reflect 1990s developments, and on the whole the report card reads favourably, though naturally with scope for improvement. The bulk of the text is a bestial concordance to the English and classical canon. Ryder strives to avoid a familiar catalogue of cruelties, but sets himself the harder task of weaving ideas from eclectic sources onto a framework of British, and to an increasing extent World, history. The detailing is serious but not po-faced--he relishes stories such as the sparrows excommunicated in 1499 for leaving their droppings on a church's pews--yet from 1824 onwards the narrative becomes more political with the forming of the Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (among its founders was anti-slavery campaigner Sir William Wilberforce). A succession of setbacks and inertia, punctuated by legislation, finally erupted in the 1960s into radicalism, with which Ryder was heavily involved, taking things up to the modern day, where debate still rages as to the Society's purpose--rescuing kittens or lobbying politicians. The closing chapters, where Ryder outlines his personal philosophy of painism, are a model of gentle yet insistent didacticism drawn from reserves of ethical militancy, and it is to his credit that he prescribes understanding rather than absolutism when the fur starts to fly. Such compassionate reason, to apply his own words, is "easy to ridicule, hard to refute". --David Vincent Customer Reviews
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 Rating: - Fascinating; thought provoking; unique; a mine of informatioThis is a fascinating book. It traces the whole history of the relationship between humans and animals and the development of the movement in recent decades to protect animals. Philosophers have led the current revival of interest in animal rights. In Europe the issue has gone further and a mass of new legislation has been passed in recent years to protect animals. If animals can suffer why should they not have rights? But why does Europe lead the US on this? Why is America being left behind? Are Americans less rational or less compassionate? Ryder addresses these issues (which are rarely addressed elsewhere). This is one of the main reasons I find the book invaluable. He also gives a wealth of scientific evidence to support the case for better ... Read More: Rating: - This book is the best summary of the background of aw.This is the best and most readable book on the subject of why animals have been treated in the way that they have over the centuries. It is scholarly and thoughtful, and not just a catalogue of gruesome abuses, nor a sentimentalised view of almost humanised creatures, but a straightforward account of where we are today in the animal welfare movement - and why. |
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