Animal Dignity and Sympathetic Imagination: Martha Nussbaum and an Analysis of the Treatment of Non-human Animals

Abstract

In this paper, I analyse Martha Nussbaum’s view of how we should treat non-human animals, which she links to her capabilities approach. This approach offers a conception of justice or, as Nussbaum puts it, a collection of fundamental rights that specify some of the necessary elements for a just society. In addition to justice for human beings, this approach includes animal rights. The basis for the discussion consists of two elements that justify the claim that every animal deserves to live a life that is characteristic of a member of its species. The first element is dignity, and the second is sympathetic imagination. The intention of Nussbaum’s approach is to represent an improvement on the social contract tradition (in particular, in the Rawlsian version), by offering a more encompassing theory of justice. In her view, the capabilities approach, contrary to the theories of social contract, has principled resources that allow it to include, among else, non-human-animals in the domain of justice. However, the contribution of my paper consists in showing the problems I observe in Nussbaum’s theory. These problems are related to the insufficient definition of basic concepts and to the fact that in Nussbaum’s theory, non-human animals remain, across various situations, only a means of serving human needs. The consequence is that non-human-animals are not included in the domain of justice which, after all, is Nussbaum’s fundamental ambition.

U ovom radu analiziram stav Marthe Nusbaum o tome kako bismo se trebali odnositi prema ne-ljudskim životinjama, što ona povezuje sa svojim pristupom sposobnosti. Ovaj pristup nudi koncepciju pravde, ili, kako to Nusbaum navodi, zbirku temeljnih prava koja specifikuju neke od nužnih elemenata za pravedno društvo. Osim pravde za ljudska bića, ovaj pristup uključuje i prava životinja. Osnovu za raspravu čine dva elementa koji opravdavaju tvrdnju da svaka životinja zaslužuje živeti životom koji je karakterističan za pripadnika svoje vrste. Prvi element je dostojanstvo, a drugi je saosećajno zamišljanje. Namjera Nusbauminog pristupa je predstavljati poboljšanje tradicije društvenog ugovora (posebno u Rolsovoj verziji), nudeći sveobuhvatniju teoriju pravde. Prema njenom mišljenju, pristup sposobnosti, suprotno teorijama društvenog ugovora, ima principijelne resurse za uključivanje, između ostalog, ne-ljudskih životinja u domenu pravde. Međutim, ne mislim da ona u potpunosti postiže ovaj cilj. Doprinos mog rada sastoji se u prikazu problema koje opažam u Nusbauminoj teoriji. Ti se problemi odnose na nedovoljnu definisanost temeljnih pojmova i, pre svega, na činjenicu da ne-ljudske životinje, u kontekstu Nusbaumine teorije, u različitim situacijama i dalje ostaju samo sredstvo služenja ljudskim potrebama. Posledica je da ne-ljudske životinje ipak nisu uključene u domen pravde, što je Nusbaumina temeljna ambicija.