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9781591026297

Animals, Emotion, & Morality

by
  • ISBN13:

    9781591026297

  • ISBN10:

    1591026296

  • Format: Trade Paper
  • Copyright: 2008-07-01
  • Publisher: Prometheus Books
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Summary

It seems obvious that animals have emotions. Dogs bark with excitement when their masters return home, snarl aggressively at the approach of a stranger, and cower with anxiety at the vets. Our ordinary ways of talking about animals suggest that animals and humans are emotional kin. In this exploration of our emotional kinship with animals, philosopher B A Dixon invites the reader to consider what is philosophically controversial about the idea that animals have emotions. Dixon guides the reader through a tangle of philosophical issues related to the concept of emotion and the various ways in which emotions are morally significant. She demonstrates that claims about animal emotion often stand in for a more fundamental property it is believed that animals and humans share-namely morality. Do some animals have "morally laden" emotions? Dixon examines various arguments in favour of this idea and finds them lacking. Her close analysis elucidates the concept of emotional kinship, the role of emotions as virtues, Darwin's principle about evolutionary continuity, the nature of primate empathy, the possibility of morally appraising children and animals, and how the animal narrative should be used as a methodology for thinking about the animal mind. Each chapter begins with an animal story or anecdote to illustrate the theme to be covered. Dixon concludes that we are unwarranted in attributing to animals morally laden emotions.

Author Biography

B. A. Dixon is associate professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

Table of Contents

Introductionp. 9
Some Questionsp. 11
Emotional Kinshipp. 14
The Moral Kinship Hypothesisp. 17
Morally Laden Emotionsp. 23
Evaluating the Moral Kinship Hypothesisp. 25
Methodologyp. 26
Telling Talesp. 28
Marking the Boundaryp. 29
Emotional Kinshipp. 35
Animals Are Like Usp. 36
Eudaimonistic Emotionsp. 43
Wild with Griefp. 43
A Barnyard Tale of Friendship and Lossp. 45
Dying of Griefp. 47
Conclusionp. 54
Emotions and Moral Virtuep. 59
Compassionate Animalsp. 61
What Is Compassion?p. 65
What Is Moral Virtue?p. 69
Why Are the Virtues Morally Good?p. 73
What Is the Right Motivation?p. 75
Thick and Thinp. 77
Conclusionp. 85
Evolutionary Continuityp. 93
Darwin's Storiesp. 94
The Continuity Thesisp. 98
Criticisms of the Continuity Thesisp. 100
The Unity of Psychologyp. 104
Conclusionp. 110
The Good Chimpp. 117
Stories - Lending a Handp. 119
The Nature of Moralityp. 121
The Nature of Emotionsp. 129
Anthropomorphismp. 137
Conclusionp. 139
Children and Animalsp. 153
Childhood Animalityp. 153
A Puzzle about the Reactive Attitudesp. 157
The Rationality Condition - Reflective Self-Controlp. 162
Morally Appraising Childrenp. 164
The Intentionality Condition - Voluntary Actionp. 168
Conclusionp. 171
Bad Wolvesp. 179
Story - The Loopp. 180
Blamingp. 184
Sharing "Simple" Emotionsp. 187
The Moral Responsibility of Trained Animalsp. 193
Conclusionp. 199
Storiesp. 203
The Problem of Methodologyp. 205
The Role of Fancyp. 208
The Limits of Fancyp. 216
Reading for Contextp. 225
The Value of Animal Storiesp. 228
Conclusionp. 231
Marking the Boundaryp. 239
Summary of the Argumentp. 243
Other Philosophical Approachesp. 249
Human Uniqueness without Superiorityp. 252
Bibliographyp. 259
Indexp. 275
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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