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Short Abstract

This paper explores new philosophical foundations and rhetorical strategies for an animal rights discourse that is more capable of traversing the gap between human and animal interests and thus responding to the various challenges presented by the Anthropocene.

Abstract

Animal law, sometimes also referred to as animal rights law, is an academic and social justice movement that seeks to improve the legal and societal status of nonhuman animals through legislation, litigation, and various forms of raising awareness including but not limited to animal law education. Though there are superficial differences of opinion within the movement, virtually all animal lawyers believe that the law offers inadequate protection to animals and that something must change as a result.

The present polycrisis brings to stark light the mutual interdependencies and shared vulnerabilities of humans, animals, and the environment. However, animal law is largely precluded from participating in these discussions due to the discipline’s obsessive focus on the suffering of individual nonhumans. This paper explores new philosophical foundations and rhetorical strategies for an animal rights discourse that is more capable of traversing the gap between human and animal interests and thus responding to the various challenges presented by the Anthropocene. Such new approaches include recent turns to multispecies or more-than-human justice as well as animal agency and representation, just to name a few examples.