In her excellent stage-setting piece, Eileen Crist touches effectively on many of the ethical and practical dimensions of our insufficiently realized solidarity with animals. Rather than simply reiterate her points, I will suggest a way of understanding why recognition of this solidarity has been so elusive, especially in the West. Part of my argument is that trans-species solidarity is not something for us to strive for; it already exists. The problem is recognizing this fact.
A key obstacle—although, assuredly, not the only one—lies in the underlying theology of the three Abrahamic religious traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. As historian Lynn White pointed out in a now-classic article, the West largely received its marching orders from the Bible vis-à-vis the rest of the natural world.1 We’re on top, the ones who really count, the apples of God’s eye, placed here to subdue those lesser creatures and charged to be fruitful and multiply, regardless of ecological consequences (which, to be fair, were not mentioned, or even recognized at the time). Full speed ahead.
There is, admittedly, a movement in support of environmental stewardship (which sometimes includes nonhuman animals), but it is pitifully small and inadequate given the work it has to do: undoing the theologically driven harm generated by its far more widely accepted antecedents.
Read the full article here and/or download the full paper from the link above.