David Sztybel

David Sztybel

Full name	David Sztybel
Born	1967
Era	Contemporary philosophy,
Region	Western Philosophy
Main interests	Animal rights

David Sztybel (born February 2, 1967 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian ethicist specializing in animal ethics.

Sztybel develops a new theory of animal rights which he terms "best caring," as outlined in "The Rights of Animal Persons."^[1] Criticizing conventional theories of rights based in intuition, traditionalism or common sense, compassion, Immanuel Kant's theory, John Rawls' theory, and Alan Gewirth's theory, Sztybel devises a new theory of rights for human and nonhuman animals. As well, he criticizes utilitarianism, which according to Peter Singer (author of Animal Liberation), can justify invasive medical experiments on nonhuman animals and mentally disabled humans, and the traditional feminist ethics of care.

Sztybel's critical approach also takes issue with the traditional notion of animal welfare. Currently many people do not consider whether using animals for food, experiments, fur, etc. can be respectful of animal welfare – so long as it is done humanely or kindly. Sztybel, however argues that we would never call the same treatment of humans, mentally disabled or otherwise, to be consistent with their welfare. Sztybel coins the term "animal illfare" to describe conventional animal treatment. He holds that true animal welfare would only entail wishing animals good (never anything avoidably malicious). He supports that fully realized substantial animal rights correspond to a significant respect for all sentient animals.

Sztybel contends that Singer's philosophy of animal liberation is not really about liberating animals in general; he accuses Singer of being a speciesist for defending the vivisection of animals on the ground that they have inferior cognitive capacities. In so doing, Singer is effectively sanctioning the harmful treatment of nonhuman animals on the basis of a species-characteristic which does not justify violent treatment.

Sztybel bases his theory of animal rights, in part, on a theory that individual sentient beings are ultimate ends in themselves, a theory of emotional cognition which verifies that some things really are good or bad for sentient beings. This is a non-utilitarian or "individuals-respecting" theory that defends the proposition that all sentient beings should be legally recognized as "persons." Sztybel is currently working on a book on animal rights ethics which deals with these issues with more theoretical depth and defense than "The Rights of Animal Persons."

Sztybel provides a critique of the views of Gary L. Francione and Joan Dunayer which hold that animal rights supporters should not support so-called "welfarist" laws. A defense of suffering-reduction laws and a discussion of the logical problems of anti-welfarism are featured in Sztybel's article, "Animal Rights Law: Fundamentalism versus Pragmatism," and are further explored in Sztybel's blog on his website.

His doctoral dissertation, Empathy and Rationality in Ethics, was completed in 2000 at the University of Toronto. Most of Sztybel's work is related to animal rights. ^[2] Sztybel fulfilled an Advisory Research Committee Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Queen's University in 2001-2002.

Publications

• "Animal Rights Law: Fundamentalism versus Pragmatism." Journal for Critical Animal Studies 5 (1) (2007): 1-37. http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/JCAS/Journal_Articles_download/Issue_6/sztybel.pdf
• "The Rights of Animal Persons." Animal Liberation Philosophy and Policy Journal 4 (1) (Spring 2006): 1-37. http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/JCAS/Journal_Articles_download/Issue_5/sztybel.pdf
• "Can the Treatment of Animals Be Compared to the Holocaust?" Ethics and the Environment 11 (Spring 2006): 97-132.
• "A Living Will Clause for Supporters of Animal Experimentation." Journal of Applied Philosophy 23 (May 2006): 174-189.
• "Animal Rights: Autonomy and Redundancy." Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 14 (3) (2001): 259-73.
• "Taking Humanism Seriously: 'Obligatory' Anthropocentrism." Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 13 (3/4) (2000): 181-203.
• "Marxism and Animal Rights." Ethics and the Environment 2 (Fall 1997): 169-85.
• Three articles for The Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, pp. 130–32. Edited by Marc Bekoff. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998: "René Descartes", "Distinguishing Animal Rights from Animal Welfare", and "Jainism".

External links

• Dr. David Sztybel's Philosophy and Animal Rights Page

Footnote

1. ^ Sztybel, D. "The Rights of Animal Persons." Animal Liberation Philosophy and Policy Journal, 4(1), 2006. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/sztybel-rights.pdf.
2. ^ The moral menagerie: philosophy and animal rights Marc R. Fellenz. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252073606

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Name	Sztybel, David
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Date of birth	February 2, 1967
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