Sue Donaldson (also known as Susan Cliffe; born 1962) is a Canadian writer and
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
. She is a
research fellow
A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...
affiliated with the Department of Philosophy at
Queen's University, where she is the co-founder of the Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (APPLE) research cluster.
Biography
Donaldson was born in
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
in 1962, and has lived most of her life in Eastern Ontario. She currently lives in
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the northeastern end of Lake Ontario. It is at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the south end of the Rideau Canal. Kingston is near the Thousand Islands, ...
with her husband,
Will Kymlicka.
Writing
Donaldson is a philosopher of
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 ...
. She published a vegan cookbook, ''Foods That Don't Bite Back'', in 2003. She has also co-authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed
academic journal
An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...
s on the topic of animal rights.In 2004, she published a
young adult novel
Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...
, ''Threads of Deceit'', under the name Susan Cliffe. This monograph is a
historical fiction
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...
and
mystery novel set in nineteenth century
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...
.
She published ''Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights'', co-written with
Will Kymlicka, in 2011. In this book, as well as their other co-authored work on
animal ethics
Animal ethics is a branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated. The subject matter includes animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, an ...
, Donaldson and Kymlicka argue for a group-differentiated political conception of animal rights. Drawing upon
citizenship
Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state.
Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...
theory, they argue that although all animals should be protected by the same fundamental rights, individual animals should have different rights (and different responsibilities) depending on their group membership. Animals who form a part of mixed human/animal society (''
domesticated
Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species, such as humans or leafcutter ants, takes over control and care of another species, such as sheep or fungi, to obtain from them a steady supply of reso ...
'' animals) should be conceived of as ''citizens'', while animals who are reliant upon the mixed society without being a part of it (''liminal'' animals) should be conceived of as ''denizens''.
Wild animals
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also ...
, who live wholly or mostly separately from the mixed human/animal society, should be conceived of as ''sovereign'' over their own territory. Intervention to reduce
wild animal suffering would accordingly be acceptable if compatible with respect for their
sovereignty
Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...
.
Awards
In 2013, she won the
Canadian Philosophical Association's Book Prize, with Will Kymlicka, for their book ''Zoopolis''.
Selected publications
*''Foods That Don't Bite Back: Vegan Cooking Made Simple''. Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2003.
*''Thread of Deceit'' (as Susan Cliffe). Toronto: Sumach Press, 2004.
*''Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. (With Will Kymlicka)
*''Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers' Brief'', Routledge, 2018. (With
Kristin Andrews, Gary Comstock, G. K. D. Crozier, Andrew Fenton, Tyler John, L. Syd M Johnson, Robert Jones, Will Kymlicka,
Letitia Meynell, Nathan Nobis, David Pena-Guzman, and
Jeff Sebo)
References
Further reading
*Taylor, Angus (2014). "An Interview with Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka". ''
Between the Species'' 17 (1).
*
Wadiwel, Dinesh (2014).
Liberalism and Animal Rights: An Interview with Sue Donaldson. Sydney Environment Institute. Accessed 7 September 2016.
External links
Sue Donaldsonat
The Writers' Union of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Sue
1962 births
Living people
Animal ethicists
Canadian animal rights scholars
Canadian cookbook writers
20th-century Canadian philosophers
21st-century Canadian philosophers
Canadian political philosophers
21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers
Canadian women non-fiction writers
21st-century Canadian novelists
Canadian women novelists
Canadian writers of young adult literature
Canadian women writers of young adult literature
21st-century pseudonymous writers
Plant-based diet advocates
Pseudonymous women writers
Vegan cookbook writers
Novelists from Ottawa