Abstract
Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation played a pivotal role in the animal rights movement and the foundation of modern animal ethics. Using an analysis inspired by Wittgenstein’s remarks on ethics, I will analyze the way in which Singer’s book is structured in order to understand why it succeeds in providing people with the moral motivation to change the way they live. I will argue that the success of Animal Liberation is in large part due to the detailed, carefully chosen, emotionally rich examples and the unusual way in which these examples are juxtaposed, structured, and presented. Understanding how examples can have motivational force, not just epistemic import, can help us, philosophers, be more rigorous but also more socially relevant.
Recommended Citation
Ilea, Ramona
(2018)
"Singer, Wittgenstein, and Morally Motivating Examples,"
Between the Species:
Vol. 22:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bts/vol22/iss1/1