animals
Nathan Nobis's Ethics & Animals articles, reviews, discussion notes, etc.
Eventually I'll add some commentary on themes, goals and methods, reflections, and places where these writings are cited and/or discussed. They are arranged chronologically.
"Rational Engagement, Emotional Response and the Prospects for Progress in Animal Use 'Debates'" (in progress, nearly done), for Jeremy Garrett, ed., Animal Research in Theory and Practice (MIT Basic Bioethics Series. 2008). (In WORD). Here's a draft of an APPENDIX that addresses more arguments. Eventually it'll all be a book (or two), I expect.
"Animals & Medicine: Do Animal Experiments Predict Human Responses?" Niall Shanks, Ray Greek, Nathan Nobis, and Jean Swingle-Greek. Skeptic: The Magazine, Volume 13, No. 3, Fall 2007.
Reply to John Altick’s Review of Putting Humans First by Tibor Machan, The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies (with David Graham, Spring 2007)
Reply to David Graham and Nathan Nobis, "Putting Humans First?" (Fall 2006)
PUTTING HUMANS FIRST? YES!, pp. 317-30
In "Putting Humans First?" David Graham and Nathan Nobis question Tibor Machan's critique of the idea of "animal rights." They suggest that Machan does not adequately respond to arguments about the impact of "marginal cases" on theories such as his, which claim that natural rights stem from the manner in which human beings as a species interact with the world. Altick argues that Graham and Nobis' critique is misdirected and that it misses Machan's underlying argument, thus leaving his defense of distinctly human natural rights relatively untarnished.
REJOINDER TO JOHN ALTICK
ANIMALS AND RIGHTS, pp. 331-39
In his reply to the Nobis-Graham review of Tibor Machan's book, Putting Humans First, John Altick defends Machan's and Rand's theories of moral rights, specifically as they relate to the rights of non-human animals and non-rational human beings. Nobis and Graham argue that Altick's defense fails and that it would be wrong to eat, wear, and experiment on non-rational�yet conscious and sentient�human beings. Since morally relevant differences between these kinds of humans and animals have not been identified to justify a difference in treatment or consideration, it is wrong to harm animals for these purposes also.
"The 'Babe' Vegetarians: Bioethics, Animal Minds and Moral Methodology," for Movies and Bioethics (Johns Hopkins Press, 2007), Sandra Shapshay, Editor. (forthcoming)
"Reasonable Humans & Animals" -- a short paper I use in my classes
Review (with David Graham) of Putting Humans First: Why We Are Nature's Favorite by Tibor Machan, (The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Fall 2006, Vol. 8, No. 1, 85-104). [PDF of final version]
A bit of a reply by Machan called "Revisiting Animal 'Rights'" is here.
"A Rational Defense of Animal Experimentation," in Ethics and the Life Sciences , ed. Frederick Adams (Philosophy Documentation Center, 2007?). [Powerpoint]. (This paper is, in part, a cobbling together of my reviews of Why Animal Experimentation Matters [below] and Putting Humans First [above]; there is a bit more to it, however.)
"In Defense of 'How We Treat Our Relatives",' a letter to the editor in the the American Biology Teacher regarding biology and bioethics issues. (in November-December 2004 issue) [PDF]
A Film of interest: "Wegmans Cruelty" : preview, entire film.
"Carl Cohen's 'Kind' Argument For Animal Rights and Against Human Rights"Journal of Applied Philosophy, March 2004, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 43-59. [PDF]).
Reprinted in Clare Palmer, ed., Animal Rights (Ashgate 2008).
A reply: Neil Levy, "Cohen and Kinds: A Response to Nathan Nobis," Journal of Applied Philosophy, August 2004, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 213-217.
"The Real Problem of Infant and Animal Suffering", Philo, a journal of the philosophy of religion Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall-Winter 2002, pp. 216-225. [PDF]
"Vegetarianism and Virtue: Does Consequentialism Demand Too Little?"Social Theory and Practice : An International and Interdisciplinary Journal of Social Philosophy , vol. 28, no. 1, January 2002, pp. 135-56.
An edited and improved version version of this paper is reprinted in the second edition of 2nd edition of Moral Issues In Global Perspective (Broadview Press, ed. Christine Koggel).
"Animal Dissection and Evidence-Based Life-Science & Health-Professions Education: A Response to Jonathan Balcombe's Commentators,"Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 5(2), 2002, pp. 155-159.
Review of Why Animal Experimentation Matters: The Use of Animals in Medical Research,American Journal of Bioethics, Winter 2003, Vol. 3, No. 1, online Bioethics Education Network [PDF].
A review of The Animal Rights Debate by Carl Cohen and Tom Regan (The Journal of Value Inquiry), 2002, vol. 36, Issue 4, pp. 579-583.