The Moral Implications of Human and Animal Vulnerability

In this open access book, Angela K. Martin thoroughly addresses what human and animal vulnerability are, how and why they matter from a moral point of view, and how they compare to each other. By first defining universal and situational human vulnerability, Martin lays the groundwork for investigating whether sentient nonhuman animals can also qualify as vulnerable beings. She then takes a closer look at three different contexts of animal vulnerability: animals used as a source of food, animals used in research, and the fate of wild animals. 

“The Moral Implications of Human and Animal Vulnerability is a novel, carefully written and up-to-date contribution to the animal ethics literature by a well-known philosopher in the field. In it, Angela Martin examines the implications that taking vulnerability seriously has for both animals used by humans and those suffering in the wild, and presents several controversial views for discussion. As this paradigm of vulnerability had not been explored yet in the literature, I believe animal ethicists wanting to be up to date with new developments will benefit a great deal by reading this book.” 
—Oscar Horta, University Santiago de Compostela, Spain

“Serious and sustained scholarly reflection on the vulnerability of nonhuman animals has been sadly absent from mainstream philosophy and bioethics. Angela K Martin’s book The Moral Implications of Human and Animal Vulnerability makes an important contribution to rectifying this puzzling omission. Early on in the book, Martin sets up the conceptual resources which she is then able to apply to unpack the ever vexed contexts of animals used as food and in research, before turning her attention to the plight of wild animals.” 

—Jane Johnson, Macquarie University, Australia

“Vulnerability has been an important topic in bioethical discourse over the last forty years. Its predominant focus was on human vulnerability but recently, animal vulnerability has become a topic of philosophical investigation as well. In this book, Angela K. Martin thoroughly addresses what animal vulnerability is, how and why it matters from a moral point of view, and how it compares to human vulnerability. She carefully explores both human and animal vulnerability, bringing out both their similarities and their difference, and she shows how vulnerability discourse can be made fruitful for animal ethics.”

—Nathan Nobis,Morehouse College, USA

"This book offers one of the most comprehensive and helpful treatments of the concept of 'vulnerability' in applied ethics to date. In so doing, it offers a fresh perspective on our duties to non-human animals that will be of enormous benefit to bioethicists and animal ethicists alike."

—Alasdair Cochrane, University of Sheffield, UK

 “What is vulnerability? Why is it morally relevant? What, if anything, do we owe to the vulnerable?  In The Moral Implications of Human and Animal Vulnerability, Angela Martin paints a wonderfully clear picture of why vulnerability is a key-concept in thinking about what we owe to others and how a moral concept used fruitfully for humans can be extended to other animals, including the incredibly ignored wild animals. A mandatory book for anyone interested in thinking rigorously about tough issues in animal ethics and ethics more generally.” 

—Catia Faria, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Angela K. Martin is a Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF PRIMA-Grant Assistant Professor. She is based at the Philosophy Department of the University of Basel, Switzerland.