David Sztybel (born 2 February 1967) is a Canadian philosopher specializing in animal ethics.

Education and career

Sztybel was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He obtained his BA in philosophy in 1991, his MA in 1994, and his PhD in 2000 – for a thesis entitled "Empathy and Rationality in Ethics" – from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

."Education"
davidsztybel.info, accessed 2 June 2012. He fulfilled an Advisory Research Committee Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Queen's University (2001-2002), held a fellowship at the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics (2007–2011), and a research fellowship at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

(2011 to present). Most of his work is related to

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

. Sztybel has been a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

since 1988.

Research

Sztybel has developed a new theory of

which he terms "best caring", as outlined in his paper "The Rights of Animal Persons". Criticizing conventional theories of rights based on intuition, traditionalism or common sense, compassion,

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

's theory,

John Rawls John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral philosophy, moral, legal philosophy, legal and Political philosophy, political philosopher in the Modern liberalism in the United States, modern liberal tradit ...

's theory, and Alan Gewirth's theory, Sztybel devises a new theory of rights for human and nonhuman animals. Sztybel bases his theory, in part, on the idea that sentient beings are 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 In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...

or "individuals-respecting" theory that defends the proposition that all sentient beings should be legally recognized as persons.Sztybel, D
"The Rights of Animal Persons"
''Animal Liberation Philosophy and Policy Journal'', 4(1), 2006. He is critical of utilitarianism and the traditional feminist

ethics of care The ethics of care (alternatively care ethics or EoC) is a normative ethical theory that holds that moral action centers on interpersonal relationships and care or benevolence as a virtue. EoC is one of a cluster of normative ethical theories th ...

. He also takes issue with the traditional notion of

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

, which supports the use of animals if steps are taken to avoid "unnecessary" suffering, the parameters of which vary. Sztybel argues that we would never call the same treatment of humans, mentally disabled or otherwise, to be consistent with their welfare. He coined 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 beings. 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. He also provides a critique of the

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

views of Gary L. Francione and Joan Dunayer, who argue that animal rights supporters should not pursue a welfarist approach. 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".

Selected publications

*"Animal Rights Law: Fundamentalism versus Pragmatism." ''Journal for Critical Animal Studies'' 5 (1) (2007): 1-37. https://web.archive.org/web/20090205001448/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. https://web.archive.org/web/20090106123436/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 Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Located in the Gold Coast (Connecticut), Gold Coast along the Long Island Sound, it is northeast of New York City and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connec ...

: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998: "

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

", "Distinguishing Animal Rights from Animal Welfare", and "

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

". *"How I Became Vegan" in Michael Lanfield ''The Interconnectedness of Life: We Are Interconnected''. pp. 96. We Are Interconnected Films, 2015.

Notes

External links

David Sztybel's Philosophy and Animal Rights Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sztybel, David 1967 births 21st-century Canadian philosophers Activists from Toronto Animal ethicists Bioethicists Canadian animal rights scholars Canadian veganism activists Living people Scholars of veganism University of Toronto alumni

Education and career

Research

See also

Selected publications

Notes

External links