1st Meeting, 7th Mar. 2017: "Multiculturalism and Animals"

Written by：管理员 Last updated：2017-02-27

Lunch-Bag Meeting

                                                                          

Organizer: Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai)，Sun Yat-sen University

Topic: Multiculturalism and Animals

Speaker: Luis Rodrigues (Research fellow, Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University)

Time: Mar. 7th, Midday

Venue:Rm 114, No. 16 Building at Haibin Honglou

Abstract:

One of the questions mostly debated in contemporary moral and political philosophy has been what minority practices ought to be tolerated and which ought not. Broadly speaking, the debate has focused on whether sexist, homophobic, undemocratic and ageist practices ought to be banned or accommodated. A largely neglected normative question related to this is whether practices that involve animal cruelty within minorities should be banned or not. In this article I address this question by looking at three instrumental arguments in favour of maintaining cultural practices.  These arguments are that cultural practices ought to be allowed to protect the economic interests of minorities, to promote their autonomy and to protect them from social prejudice.  By analyzing these arguments, I conclude that in some cases practices that involve animal cruelty should be accommodated, but there are also other cases when they should not.