Solidarity with Animals - GTI Forum February 2023 Contributions

Here, I interrogate the conundrum of violence and love with questions of moral purpose: Which of these realities best reflects who we are and aspire to be? And what is the interplay between animal solidarity, human well-being, and a Great Transition to an ecologically vibrant and just future? 2 | Solidarity with Animals| GTI FORUM The Heritage of the “Differential Imperative” To unravel the contra. [...] Reruns of the Differential Imperative (from Aristotle to Heidegger) contributed to the crystallization of the categories “human” and “animal” as hierarchically ordered domains.7 The success of this framing solidified a foundation not only for the subjugation of animals but also for inequality and oppression among humans. [...] The human-animal divide has been aptly described as “a condition of modernity as a form of order and indispensable to its continued coherence and authority.”11 Yet without the ideological authorization of the Differential Imperative, the proverbial emperor is naked: The domination of animals is exposed as an exercise of sheer force upon animal bodies and animal habitats premised on the fiat of hum. [...] In 1979, she founded the Washington chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), and was on the National Board and Executive Committee of both PSR and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. [...] The International Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is also a laggard, focused on the values humans attribute to species and the natural world, not the intrinsic values and well-being of other animals in and of themselves.