Ch. 5
Domesticated Animals as
Citizens
Defend the claim that the appropriate way to recognizes the
incorporation of domesticated animals into our society is through
citizenship, showing how the facts of domesticated make cocitizenship both morally necessary and practically feasible
*Nearly all passages in this presentation are quoted from Zoopolis.*
2 Main Ideas of Citizenship Model
• 1) Domesticated animals must be seen as members of our
community
– Having brought such animals into our society, and deprived them of
other possible forms of existence, we have a duty to include them in our
social and political arrangements on fair terms
– As such they have rights of membership- rights that go beyond the
universal rights owed to all animals
• 2) The appropriate framework for these relational membership
rights is the citizenship model given that domestic animals have
the requisite capacities to be citizens: capacities to have and
express a subjective good, to participate, and to cooperate
*This information was obtained from p.101*
Rethinking Citizenship
• 3 basic capacities required by citizenship:
– 1) the capacity to have a subjective good and to
communicate it
– 2) the capacity to comply with social
norms/cooperation
– 3) the capacity to participate in the co-authoring
of laws
* This information was obtained from p.103*
Can Domesticated Animals be
Citizens?
Dependent Agency:
• 1) the capacity to express their subjective
good through various forms of behavior and
communication
• 2) the capacity to comply with social norms
through the evolution of trusting relationships
• 3) the capacity to participate in shaping terms
of interaction
* This information was obtained from p. 104*
Can Domesticated Animals be
Citizens?
• Domestication only works for animals that are
sociable, able to communicate, and to adapt to
and trust humans, and domestication over time
has worked to strengthen these capacities
• As a result domesticated animals are capable of
forming relations with humans that allow them to
manifest a subjective good, to cooperate, and to
participate- to be citizens
*This information was obtained from p.104-105*
Basic Socialization
• General Principles:
– 1) Socialization is the
responsibility of parents or
states to recognize individuals
as members of the community
and to give them the skills and
knowledge they need to thrive
in that community
– 2) Socialization is not a lifelong
process of control and
intervention but a temporary
developmental process
*This information was obtained
from p. 125*
• Socialization is a right of
membership and failure to
socialize domesticated animals
harms their chances of
flourishing in human-animal
society (p.123)
• Involves the basic
skills/knowledge that
individuals need in order to be
accepted into social
community (p. 123)
• Basic socialization in both
directions is mandatory
(humans and animals) *p.124*
Mobility & Sharing of Public Space
• Domesticated animal citizens have the right to share public
space as well as a positive right to mobility (p.126-127)
• 3 basic principles: (p.129)
– 1) a strong presumption against any form of restraint or
confinement, except in cases where individuals pose a threat to
themselves or to the basic liberties of others
– 2) a positive right to sufficient mobility providing access to an
adequate range of options needed for a flourishing life
– 3) opposition to restrictions on mobility even if they leave
individuals with sufficient options if (a) they are adopted in
order to express subordinate citizenship or (b) because certain
groups were not considered when designing access to certain
spaces
Duties of Protection
• Recognizing domesticated animals as co-citizens has
implications for our duties to protect them from harm,
including harm from humans, from other animals, and
from accidents or natural disasters
• Citizens are entitled to the full benefit and protection
of the law
– Harm to animals should be criminalized- both deliberate
harm and negligence resulting in harm
– Duty to take steps to protect them from predators,
disease, accidents, floods, or fires, etc
*This information was obtained from p.132*
Use of Animal Products
• We can only use animals or benefit from them under
conditions that are consistent with their agency and
their membership status (p.135)
• Citizenship is a cooperative social project, one in which
all are recognized as equals, all benefit from the goods
of social life, and all, according to their ability and
inclination, contribute to the general good (p.137)
• Need to ensure that mechanisms are in place to fully
monitor and enforce the rights of such animals and to
regulate commercial pressures that might erode these
rights (p.138-139)
Predation/Diet
• Amongst our many duties to domesticated animals, we are
responsible for ensuring that they have adequate nutrition (p.149)
• Some domesticated animals given greater scope for exercising agency,
will be able to take care of many of their own nutritional needs
(chickens, cows, goats, sheep, horses) (p.149)
• Others such as dogs and cats are dependent on us to provide for their
nutritional needs (p.149)
• What matters is for them to have a diet that meets all of their
nutritional needs and which is palatable and pleasing to them (p.149150)
• Dogs and cats do not have a right to food that involves the killing of
other animals (p.150)
• Justice requires acknowledging the rights of domesticated animals
but it also requires that domesticated animals, like all citizens, respect
the basic liberties of all (p.150)
Use of Animal Labor
• For use of animal labor to be non-exploitative, the
animal
– must be in a position to give a clear indication that they
enjoy the activity,
– that they thrive on the stimulation and contact, and
– that the work is not a price they need to pay to receive
the love and care that are their due (and need)
• Work must be balanced with down time in which to
engage in other activities and to socialize
• Working animals should have the same opportunity as
human citizens have to control the conditions under
which they contribute to society, and to follow their
own inclinations in terms of how they live their lives
and who they spend time with
*This information was obtained from p.140*
Medical Care
• Health care is a right of membership in
contemporary societies and domesticated
animals have the right to be treated as
members (p.142)
• We have duties to provide health care to
domesticated animals and these duties
would likely be fulfilled through a scheme
of animal health insurance (p.142-143)
• Animals are not in a position to give
informed consent, so humans must make
decisions on behalf of animals (p.143)
Sex & Reproduction
• As citizens, domesticated animals have the right not to
have their sexual and reproductive activities unnecessarily
restricted and the right to have their offspring cared for and
protected by the larger, mixed human-animal society
• Domesticated animals also have the responsibility to
exercise their rights in ways that do not impose unfair or
unreasonable costs on others
• Restrictions can only be justified by reference to the
interests of the individual while recognizing that these
interests include being part of a cooperative social project
which involves both rights and duties
*This information was obtained from p.146-147*
Political Representation
• Requires that individuals internalize the basic rules of
social life in order to enjoy its freedoms and
opportunities (p.153)
• Domesticated animals have the capacity to participate in
this process if assisted by those ‘collaborators’ who have
learned how to interpret their expressions of preference
(p.153)
• To ensure effective political representation of
domesticated animals, will involve representation in the
legislative process, and representation in land planning
decisions or on governance boards for professions and
public services (police, emergency services, medicine,
law, urban planning, social services, etc) (p.154)
Objections
• 3 basic capacities required by citizenship:
– 1) the capacity to have a subjective good and to communicate it
– 2) the capacity to comply with social norms/cooperation
– 3) the capacity to participate in the co-authoring of laws
• Mobility & Sharing of Public Space
– The premise that “this need may be adequately met with large
fenced ranges/pastures, and parks is in breach of “opposition to
restrictions on mobility even if they leave individuals with
sufficient options”
• Animals as Food
– The policies regarding use of animals as products would mean
use of animals for meats would be unjust and a breach in their
rights as citizens. It is unlikely that the public will abandon the
norm and cease to consume meats.
Objections
• Health Care
– How do we owe animals universal healthcare if we do not supply
that to many of our citizens?
– How will this new expense be paid for?
• Predation
– How can we expect animals to “respect the basic liberties of all?”
– How do we ensure dogs and cats with predatory instincts do not
hunt other animals?
• Welfare
– A homeless shelter is for extenuating circumstances, yet that's the
norm for "free" (stray) animals
• Political representation
– “involve representation in the legislative process, and
representation in land planning decisions or on governance
boards for professions and public services (police, emergency
services, medicine, law, urban planning, social services, etc)”