Humanism and Posthumanism in Animal Political Theory
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2021-07-01
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en
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This thesis discusses and critiques the role humanism has played in the development of animal rights theory. Although this traditional of moral philosophy and political theory holds a radically egalitarian promise, questions have been raised if nonhuman animals fit into a theoretical framework that takes man to be the measure of things. The somewhat dualistic framework of moral philosophy and anthropocentric understandings of 'the subject' are problematized. A posthumanist theoretical framework, developed through readings of several figures of 20th century Continental philosophy is therefore put forward, out of which emerges a Foucauldian approach to doing animal political philosophy. Through this framework, the status of concepts like subjectivity, rights, and sovereignty within the liberal humanist tradition of animal rights theory are assessed. I ultimately find that, although efforts are made to reconfigure these terms for nonhuman animals, their interpretations ultimately fail to make true on their emancipatory promise. Because these concepts were created precisely in a context in which humans set themselves apart from other animals, their meanings need to be more radically untethered from their discriminatory foundations. This, I conclude, is done precisely through critique.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen