Yves Bonnardel (born 1967) is a French activist, philosopher, writer and editor. He advocates for
antispeciesism
Speciesism () is a term used in philosophy regarding the treatment of individuals of different species. The term has several different definitions. Some specifically define speciesism as discrimination or unjustified treatment based on an indivi ...
,
libertarianism
Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according t ...
and
egalitarianism
Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...
. Bonnardel is one of the founding members of the French journal '' Cahiers antispécistes'' ("Antispeciesist Notebooks") and of the events
Veggie Pride
Veggie Pride is an international event that celebrates and promotes vegetarianism (including veganism).
Background
Veggie Pride has been held annually in Paris since 2001 and has later been emulated in other cities in the world.march to close all slaughterhouses
The march to close all slaughterhouses is an international event in the form of annual demonstrations in support of the abolition of the meat, dairy, egg, and fish industries and their practices, including the breeding, fishing, and killing of an ...
.
Life and career
Bonnardel was born in 1967 in a small town south of
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. His father was a secondary school teacher who was highly involved in the French
Maoist
Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...
movement. He became a
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
at the age of 13. His father's choice of political engagement inspired Bonnardel to take a different path, turning to
individualist anarchism
Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hi ...
and leaving school early with the intention to live in a community and train, before getting involved in activist causes. He became an activist against adult supremacy, before also taking up antispeciesism as a cause.
In May 1989, along with David Olivier and three other activists, Bonnardel published ''Nous ne mangeons pas de viande pour ne pas tuer d'animaux'' ("We Do Not Eat Meat So We Do Not Kill Animals"), in response to discussions of vegetarianism in France. In 1991, together with Olivier and Françoise Blanchon, he founded the antispeciesist journal '' Cahiers antispécistes lyonnais'' (later renamed to ''Cahiers antispécistes''). He was also one of the journal's editors, before leaving at some point during the 1990s. In 1997, he co-wrote and distributed the Manifesto for the Abolition of International Apartheid with Olivier.
Bonnardel co-founded
Veggie Pride
Veggie Pride is an international event that celebrates and promotes vegetarianism (including veganism).
Background
Veggie Pride has been held annually in Paris since 2001 and has later been emulated in other cities in the world.
Philosophy
Bonnardel is an antinaturalist and critical of the concept of nature, describing it as an "ideological tool", which places humans in a superior position of freedom, while other animals are seen as needing to obey natural cycles, such as the
food chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web, often starting with an autotroph (such as grass or algae), also called a producer, and typically ending at an apex predator (such as grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivore (such as ...
. He argues that animals are seen as existing only to perform certain ecosystem functions, such as a rabbit being food for a wolf. Bonnardel compares this with the religious concept of woman existing for the sake of man, or the slaves for their masters and argues that all individual animals have an interest in living. He is critical of the concept of a
balance of nature
The balance of nature, also known as ecological balance, is a theory that proposes that ecological systems are usually in a stable equilibrium or homeostasis, which is to say that a small change (the size of a particular population, for example) ...
, stating " at we call balance, or order, in practice, it's chaos, it's nonsense". Bonnardel has also discussed the
predation problem
The predation problem or predation argument refers to the consideration of the harms experienced by animals due to predation as a moral problem, that humans may or may not have an obligation to work towards preventing. Discourse on this topic has ...
, seeing it as an issue that we should work towards solving.
Bonnardel is critical of
humanism
Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The me ...
, describing it as a form of elitism centred on white men, arguing that " manism is racism, patriarchy, the education of children, slaughterhouses". He instead argues for egalitarianism. Bonnardel is a
hedonistic 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 gr ...
who advocates placing
sentient individuals
Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness, reasoning, or complex thought processes. Some writers define sentience exclusively as the capacity for ''v ...
at the centre of moral concern because they have desires, perceptions, emotions, and a will of their own; he argues that from this follows a moral axiom " e must not harm a sentient being". Bonnardel was influenced by
Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher who is Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Singer's work specialises in applied ethics, approaching the subject from a secu ...
's '' Animal Liberation'' and is a supporter of Singer's conception of speciesism, seeing it as instrumental in deconstructing
anthropocentric
Anthropocentrism ( ) is the belief that human beings are the central or most important entity on the planet. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, and some refer to the concept as human supremacy or human exceptionalism. From a ...
morality.
Publications
Books
* ''La Domination adulte. L'oppression des mineurs'' ("Adult Domination. The Oppression of Minors"; Le Hêtre-Myriadis, 2015)
* with Thomas Lepeltier, Pierre Sigler (dir.), David Olivier and Estiva Reus. ''La Révolution antispéciste'' ("The Antispeciest Revolution"; PUF, 2018)
* with Axelle Playoust-Braure. ''Solidarité animale. Défaire la société spéciste'' ("Animal Solidarity: Defeating the Speciesist Society"; ed. La Découverte, 2020)