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Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog? | 
 enlarge | Author: Gary L. Francione
Creator: Alan Watson
Publisher: Temple University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $10.99
You Save: $15.96 (59%)
New (20) Used (14) from $10.99
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 314252
Media: Paperback
Pages: 280
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 1566396921
Dewey Decimal Number: 179.3
EAN: 9781566396929
ASIN: 1566396921
Publication Date: November 12, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Acceptable condition. Previous library item with the usual markings and stickers. There is wear of the soft cover, moreso on the back. The outer pages reveal worn corners. Ships protected on the next business day.
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Product Description
Two-thirds of Americans polled by the Associated Press agree with the following statement: "An animal's right to live free of suffering should be just as important as a person's right to live free of suffering." More than 50 percent of Americans believe that it is wrong to kill animals to make fur coats or to hunt them for sport. But these same Americans eat hamburgers, take their children to circuses and rodeos, and use products developed with animal testing. How do we justify our inconsistency? In this easy-to-read introduction, animal rights advocate Gary Francione looks at our conventional moral thinking about animals. Using examples, analogies, and thought-experiments, he reveals the dramatic inconsistency between what we say we believe about animals and how we actually treat them. "Introduction to Animal Rights: Your Child or the Dog?" provides a guidebook to examining our social and personal ethical beliefs. It takes us through concepts of property and equal consideration to arrive at the basic contention of animal rights: that everyone human and non-human has the right not to be treated as a means to an end. Along the way, it illuminates concepts and theories that all of us use but few of us understand the nature of "rights" and "interests," for example, and the theories of Locke, Descartes, and Bentham. Filled with fascinating information and cogent arguments, this is a book that you may love or hate, but that will never fail to inform, enlighten, and educate. Author note: Gary L. Francione is Professor of Law and Nicholas de B. Katzenbach Scholar of Law and Philosophy at Rutgers University Law School, Newark. He is the author of "Animals, Property, and the Law" and "Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement" (both Temple).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 NE PLUS ULTRA!!!! (LATIN TERM FOR A MASTERPIECE!) October 1, 2007
Nadia
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I got this book about a year ago and I wish I had done a review sooner. This book is a masterpiece of work on behalf of the rights of non humans. This author is exceptionally intelligent and compassionate. He is a Law Professor--a Super Lawyer, and thanks to his training in Law, he REALLY drives his argument very very deep and straight into the heart of the matter leaving little forgotten. This book seems small, but it has more depth and coverage inside than you think. It is for those newly interested in the subject, it is for old pros and it is for anyone or everyone to read regardless of your animal-rights evolution. This author has written other books (I would like to suggest "Rain Without Thunder") in which he analyzes the animal rights movement even more deeply. He is absolutely phenomenal!!!
This book is very very deep, very very probing and the author does a FANTASTIC JOB in his arguments.
This book ranks at least 7 from a choice of 5 stars for me. I had to give it a five star rating because that was the limit.
I don't think you will find a better book than this one that drives the argument straight home. May I suggest Animal Gospel as an equally good book from the viewpoint of Christianity.
I take this subject matter to be my PRIORITY in life. So please trust me on my opinion as this being a SUPERB BOOK!! NE PLUS ULTRA!!!!--meaning nothing better than this--it is top of the line!!
Tip from someone who has learned from life: No one is free until all are free. We suffer knowing our fellow beings are in deep hell. It affects everyone in one way or another. Therefore, the fight for animal freedom is a fight for our own freedom. Don't let superficial needs take priority over the need of our fellow beings to be free and free from pain. Keep romantic love in perspective. It's not the real deal. Compassion is the real deal and that is what needs priority.
 An important perspective but ultimately unconvincing May 4, 2007
Dave G (Melbourne, Australia)
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
Gary Francione is an important thinker in the animal rights debate. His abolitionist views have proved influential in certain sectors of the movement, and for that reason alone it is important to read his work.
The problem with Gary is that I get the impression he thinks his views are obviously watertight and thoroughly convincing and seems surprised anyone would disagree with them. His arguments are presented in a simple (almost syllogistic) format that circumvents the complexity of the issues. Writers like Robert Garner have drawn attention to the problem with thinking that the property status of animals is the ultimate, foundational issue that should be the heart of the movement's concerns. But as I said, Gary's arguments are important to consider and he makes some genuinely insightful remarks.
If you buy one book on animal rights theory... March 17, 2007
Eric Prescott (Allston, MA USA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Buy this book, a coherent, refined and logical approach to animal rights that gets to the root of modern society's animal problem without going out on a limb. Finally, understand animal rights without wading through philosophy or complicated arguments. And it might just change your life.
introduccion a los derechos animales February 18, 2007
vegan grapper (viņa del mar chile)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
el libro me parecio fascinante, desde un principio, pero en un par de capitulos daba muchos ejemplos que ya sabia, pero para quien lee sobre derechos animales por primera vez muy utiles, y lo mejor es el capitulo 6, donde hace refutaciones al utilitarismo.
The most succinct and thorough animal rights book March 7, 2002
Adam Kyd (Melbourne, Australia)
48 out of 60 found this review helpful
The three most well known authors of 'animal rights' books are Tom Regan, Peter Singer and Gary Francione.
Tom Regan's writing is good but I find it has inconsistencies, for example, he attributes non-human animals with inherent value, yet he asserts without justification that killing a human causes more harm to a human than killing a dog causes harm to a dog. Also, he draws the moral line between mammals and the rest of sentient life. Surely sentience, the ability to be the subject of experiences (both painful and pleasurable experiences), is the only factor that has an impact on the moral matter of our treatment of animals. A non-human animal may never experience the pleasure of playing a musical instrument or writing a piece of music, the satisfaction of completing a challenging essay or the stimulation of a game of chess - but neither will most humans. Whatsmore, I will never be able to experience the euphoria of smelling a multitude of scents at the park, the amazing anticipation of going for a run that my dog experiences and the joy of fetching a ball. These experiences are all subjective - to a dog (as an example of a non-human animal) going for a walk is as exciting as composing a piece of music and playing tug of war over a rubber toy is as fun as human competitive sport. We can't say that because the things animals derive pleasure from are not typically what we derive pleasure from that their experiences don't matter as much as ours. Going for an explore in the park amongst the myriad of sights, sounds and smells is to a dog what life is all about.
Of Peter Singer I say this, his writing is commonly confused as animal rights writing - he does talk about AR, but in no way does he support it. Peter Singer does not think using an animal for human ends (e.g., killing an animal to eat it, use in experiments or otherwise utilize) is wrong. He believes non-human animals (perhaps with the exclusion of the great apes - his reasoning: they are too alike to normal humans) are property for 'normal' humans to utilize as long as 'suffering' is minimalised. Singer draws an arbitrary line to protect 'normal' humans like himself from exploitation whilst justifying the exploitation of those who fall below the arbitrary line.
Francione on the other hand, argues that sentience is the only thing that matters in the determination of whether a being has the basic right to freedom from expoitation. He argues his case for animal rights clearly, thoroughly and succinctly without the major inconsistencies that appear in Singers and Regans work. At the end of the book he has provided commonly occuring questions and his respective answers. I found his answers intelligent, original and highly persuasive.
Francione's book is the bible (without the Judeo-Christian dogma) of the true Animal Rights movement. It is a must buy. Regan's work is still important and worth looking at because we must still recognise the importance of his pioneering efforts in animal ethics. Singers work should only be borrowed from the library - to be able to effectively deal with utilitarian arguments when they are presented.
Note: I have a sneaking suspicion that Singer or one of his clones (PETA??) was responsible for the reviews: "Francione not realistic and nor constructive" and "Going down a well travelled path". Singer must be very defensive now that his 'ivory'(the death of the elephants was relatively painless he assures you) tower that he built from sales of 'Animal Liberation' is starting to crumble. The big Animal Welfare organisations also have a lot to lose from Francione's criticism - they get a lot of revenue... from people who think their money is going to be put to good use.
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