Animal Wrongs and Rights - Antennae The Journal of Nature in ...

R
oger Scruton is an English philosopher who has
held university posts at Cambridge, London
and Boston. At present he is a free-lance writer
and scholar and holds visiting professorships at St
Andrews University and the University of Oxford.
Scruton has published books on a wide range of
topics and his trenchant critical analyses of aspects
of modern culture, society and politics have often
generated lively debates in the media. In terms of
philosophy perhaps his most important contribution
has been to the field of aesthetics – The Aesthetics
of Architecture (1980); The Aesthetic Understanding
(1983); The Aesthetics of Music (1999) and Beauty
(2009). Scruton has written two short books, Animal
Rights and Wrongs (1996) and On Hunting (1998),
that explore human-animal relations and it is these
two texts that have generated the questions for this
interview.
Animal Rights and Wrongs (published by
Demos, the independent think-tank) explores some
of the philosophical arguments for animal rights and
what Scruton thinks is wrong about the case for
rights. Here he does not attempt a comprehensive
review of the philosophical work although he does
deal with key perspectives. Instead his aim is to ‘help
those who are genuinely puzzled by the question of
animal welfare to see how it might be answered by
someone who takes it as seriously as philosopher
should’ (1996:3). His position is that one can love
animals and, in the right circumstances, it is morally
21
ANIMAL RIGHTS
AND WRONGS
In this exclusive interview with Antennae, controversial philosopher Roger Scruton talks to Garry Marvin about the
concepts of “right” and “person”, battery farms, pleasure, suffering and of course, hunting.
Questions by Garry Marvin
acceptable to make use of them as pets, for food,
for their skins and as subjects of experiments. He is
very keen to argue the case for the right
circumstances and his view is that, ‘The real
question is not whether we should do those things
but when and how’ (1996:3). For Scruton animals
are far from being insignificant others and he
carefully distinguishes ‘virtuous from vicious conduct
towards other species’ (1996: 126). Animals though
are others to us and he argues for moral duties to
them largely expressed in welfare terms.
The second book on which this interview is
based in On Hunting (1998). This is a more personal,
and in part autobiographical, book but it still
contains important philosophical reflections. The
hunting of the title is not hunting in general but
specifically English foxhunting with hounds. Scruton
reflects on the relationship between the Huntsman,
his hounds and foxes and considers the notion of
respect between them that the hunt world believes
is at the heart of the event. This virtue might be a
challenge for those who see the event as immoral
and vicious. As a social anthropologist I found the
most interesting sections of the book were those in
which Scruton explores how this form of hunting
connects with (and even makes) the landscapes of
the countryside and how the event gives rise to and
sustains communities in the countryside. His
approach here is through a personal journey into
the Hunt and its community. Scruton finds himself,
emotionally, and finds a place for himself in rural