ANIMALS AND MORALS

Kudos to New Scientist, the periodical that routinely takes up provocative scientific controversies, for its "Animals and Us" special section. Even non-subscribers can get a good taste from this intro, which, while a little sloppily written, lays the issues right out on the plate:

What's wrong with the way we interact with animals at the moment? Nothing, if you don't accept that animals have their own feelings and emotions, or accept it but still don't care. But if you do care, then you will realise that the moral relationship we have with animals is deeply troubled. It becomes impossible to maintain moral blindness to the way we treat them.

Sounds a little like Gary Francione's "moral schizophrenia," doesn't it? Well, he's here to represent on that, along with perspectives from Frans de Waal, Simon Blackburn and, heh, Temple Grandin. Only Jane Goodall gets to parade in front of the "subscribe" curtain, though. This might be an occasion where it's worth buying the magazine.