Introduction

Picture this: you’re walking past a pet store window and see a puppy wagging its tail. Your heart melts. Now picture a piglet in a factory farm, crammed into a metal crate. Or a monkey hooked up to electrodes in a research lab. Or a cow separated from her calf in a dairy facility. Suddenly the question “How should we treat animals?” hits differently. It’s not just about being kind to your dog. It’s about our relationship to all nonhuman animals—whether they live in our homes, on our plates, in labs, or in the wild.

This chapter explores one of the most urgent and emotionally charged areas in ethics today: the moral status of animals. It asks big questions: Do animals matter morally? If so, how much? Is it ever okay to eat them, experiment on them, or keep them in zoos? What makes humans think we’re so special—and is that assumption justified?

We’ll dive into these questions through a variety of philosophical lenses. Peter Singer argues from a utilitarian perspective that if animals can suffer, then their suffering should count. He challenges the idea of “speciesism”—a form of discrimination where humans assume they matter more just because they’re human. Singer doesn’t just appeal to compassion; he uses cold, hard logic to push for radical change in how we treat animals.

Meanwhile, thinkers like Kenneth Valpey offer a different perspective, rooted in Hindu animal ethics and the sacredness of life. In his work on cow care, we see how religious traditions can inspire deep reverence for animals—and how that reverence can become entangled in politics and power struggles.

We’ll also explore voices from critical disability studies and feminist animal ethics. Katja Guenther’s work on disabled dogs challenges us to examine how care, value, and vulnerability are framed across species lines. Can caring for animals help us rethink ableism and dependence? Can interspecies relationships teach us something radical about mutual support?

At the heart of this chapter is the idea that animals are not just background characters in the human story. They are beings with experiences, needs, and sometimes suffering that mirrors our own. And yet, we often treat them as resources: for food, entertainment, labor, or experimentation. Why?

This chapter doesn’t hand you one “correct” answer. Instead, it asks you to think philosophically—and personally—about the choices you make and the systems you participate in. Whether you’re a lifelong vegan or a bacon-lover just dipping your toes into animal ethics, these texts are here to challenge your assumptions, sharpen your thinking, and maybe even stir some ethical discomfort.

So: How should we treat animals? That’s not just a theoretical question. It’s a moral crossroads you face every day—at breakfast, in the classroom, or when you click on that “cute animal” video. Let’s start thinking about it together.