
A New Basis for Animal Ethics
Telos and Common Sense
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Scot Wilcox
About this listen
This audiobook, the culmination of 40 years of theorizing about the moral status of animals, explicates and justifies society’s moral obligation to animals in terms of the commonsense metaphysics and ethics of Aristotle’s concept of telos. The author uses this concept to assert that humans have a responsibility to treat animals ethically. Aristotle used the concept, from the Greek word for end or purpose, as the core explanatory concept for the world we live in. We understand what an animal is by what it does. This is the nature of an animal, and helps us understand our obligations to animals.
“This is yet another important book from one of the pre-eminent impact players in the contemporary animal protection movement," says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO, Humane Society of the United States.
“Possibly the most important book on animal welfare written to date... A great read, a must read," according to Alan Goldberg, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, founding director emeritus of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, Berman Institute of Bioethics
©2016 The Curators of the University of Missouri (P)2021 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Reconnecting After Isolation
- Coping with Anxiety, Depression, Grief, PTSD, and More (Johns Hopkins Press Health Series)
- By: Susan J. Noonan
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Reconnecting After Isolation, Dr. Susan J. Noonan draws on our collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic to help listeners deal with the emotional impact of social isolation. Speaking as both a provider and recipient of mental health care services, Noonan combines her professional and personal experiences in an evidence-based and practical guide. Drawing on meticulous research and interviews with four psychologists, she outlines steps to overcome the emotional trauma of isolation.
By: Susan J. Noonan
-
Justice for Animals
- Our Collective Responsibility
- By: Martha C. Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From dolphins to crows, elephants to octopuses, Nussbaum examines the entire animal kingdom, showcasing the lives of animals with wonder, awe, and compassion to understand how we can create a world in which human beings are truly friends of animals, not exploiters or users. All animals should have a shot at flourishing in their own way. Humans have a collective duty to face and solve animal harm. An urgent call to action and a manual for change, Nussbaum’s groundbreaking theory directs politics and law to help us meet our ethical responsibilities as no book has done before.
-
-
Couldn't listen to this narration
- By Karen on 01-06-23
-
Animal Liberation Now
- By: Peter Singer
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its original publication in 1975, Animal Liberation has awakened millions of people to the existence of "speciesism"—our systematic disregard of nonhuman animals—inspiring a worldwide movement to transform our attitudes to animals and eliminate the cruelty we inflict on them. Now, for the first time since its original publication, Singer returns to the major arguments and examples and brings us to the current moment.
-
-
21st century MUST READ
- By lorelupo on 08-06-23
By: Peter Singer
-
The Song of the Cell
- An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of The Emperor of All Maladies, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and The Gene, a #1 New York Times bestseller, comes his most spectacular book yet, an exploration of medicine and our radical new ability to manipulate cells. Rich with Mukherjee’s revelatory and exhilarating stories of scientists, doctors, and the patients whose lives may be saved by their work, The Song of the Cell is the third book in this extraordinary writer’s exploration of what it means to be human.
-
-
Beyond Words Wonderful
- By Lynn on 11-27-22
-
The Righteous Mind
- Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
-
-
Why Good People Are Divided - Good for whom?
- By K. Cunningham on 09-21-12
By: Jonathan Haidt
-
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
- How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake
- By: Steven Novella, Bob Novella - contributor, Cara Santa Maria - contributor, and others
- Narrated by: Steven Novella
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella and friends will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories - from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N-rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co-worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking.
-
-
Condescending & ridiculing to those who differ
- By Bookworm on 04-15-19
By: Steven Novella, and others
-
Reconnecting After Isolation
- Coping with Anxiety, Depression, Grief, PTSD, and More (Johns Hopkins Press Health Series)
- By: Susan J. Noonan
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Reconnecting After Isolation, Dr. Susan J. Noonan draws on our collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic to help listeners deal with the emotional impact of social isolation. Speaking as both a provider and recipient of mental health care services, Noonan combines her professional and personal experiences in an evidence-based and practical guide. Drawing on meticulous research and interviews with four psychologists, she outlines steps to overcome the emotional trauma of isolation.
By: Susan J. Noonan
-
Justice for Animals
- Our Collective Responsibility
- By: Martha C. Nussbaum
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From dolphins to crows, elephants to octopuses, Nussbaum examines the entire animal kingdom, showcasing the lives of animals with wonder, awe, and compassion to understand how we can create a world in which human beings are truly friends of animals, not exploiters or users. All animals should have a shot at flourishing in their own way. Humans have a collective duty to face and solve animal harm. An urgent call to action and a manual for change, Nussbaum’s groundbreaking theory directs politics and law to help us meet our ethical responsibilities as no book has done before.
-
-
Couldn't listen to this narration
- By Karen on 01-06-23
-
Animal Liberation Now
- By: Peter Singer
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since its original publication in 1975, Animal Liberation has awakened millions of people to the existence of "speciesism"—our systematic disregard of nonhuman animals—inspiring a worldwide movement to transform our attitudes to animals and eliminate the cruelty we inflict on them. Now, for the first time since its original publication, Singer returns to the major arguments and examples and brings us to the current moment.
-
-
21st century MUST READ
- By lorelupo on 08-06-23
By: Peter Singer
-
The Song of the Cell
- An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the author of The Emperor of All Maladies, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and The Gene, a #1 New York Times bestseller, comes his most spectacular book yet, an exploration of medicine and our radical new ability to manipulate cells. Rich with Mukherjee’s revelatory and exhilarating stories of scientists, doctors, and the patients whose lives may be saved by their work, The Song of the Cell is the third book in this extraordinary writer’s exploration of what it means to be human.
-
-
Beyond Words Wonderful
- By Lynn on 11-27-22
-
The Righteous Mind
- Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
- By: Jonathan Haidt
- Narrated by: Jonathan Haidt
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding. His starting point is moral intuition - the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right.
-
-
Why Good People Are Divided - Good for whom?
- By K. Cunningham on 09-21-12
By: Jonathan Haidt
-
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
- How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake
- By: Steven Novella, Bob Novella - contributor, Cara Santa Maria - contributor, and others
- Narrated by: Steven Novella
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella and friends will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories - from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N-rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co-worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking.
-
-
Condescending & ridiculing to those who differ
- By Bookworm on 04-15-19
By: Steven Novella, and others
-
The Moral Landscape
- How Science Can Determine Human Values
- By: Sam Harris
- Narrated by: Sam Harris
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this explosive new book, Sam Harris tears down the wall between scientific facts and human values, arguing that most people are simply mistaken about the relationship between morality and the rest of human knowledge. Harris urges us to think about morality in terms of human and animal well-being, viewing the experiences of conscious creatures as peaks and valleys on a "moral landscape".
-
-
Read it
- By Paul on 11-23-10
By: Sam Harris
-
Darwin on Trial
- By: Phillip E. Johnson
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Darwin's theory of evolution is accepted by most educated Americans as simple fact. This easy acceptance, however, hides from us the many ways in which evolution - as an idea - shapes our thinking about a great many things. What if this idea is wrong? What if "evolution" is just a word that covers up scientific ignorance of how the wonders of the living world could have been created? Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson looks at the evidence for Darwinistic evolution the way a lawyer would - with a cold dispassionate eye for logic and proof.
-
-
Pretty good book
- By mk313 on 05-11-05
-
The Psychology of Totalitarianism
- By: Mattias Desmet
- Narrated by: Dan Crue
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Totalitarianism is not a coincidence and does not form in a vacuum. It arises from a collective psychosis that has followed a predictable script throughout history. In The Psychology of Totalitarianism, world-renowned Professor of Clinical Psychology Mattias Desmet deconstructs the societal conditions that allow this collective psychosis to take hold. By looking at our current situation and identifying the phenomenon of “mass formation”—a type of collective hypnosis—he clearly illustrates how close we are to surrendering to totalitarian regimes.
-
-
Is this the best book every written?
- By Susan M on 07-18-22
By: Mattias Desmet
-
A Manual for Creating Atheists
- By: Peter Boghossian
- Narrated by: Peter Boghossian
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For thousands of years, the faithful have honed proselytizing strategies and talked people into believing the truth of one holy book or another. Indeed, the faithful often view converting others as an obligation of their faith - and are trained from an early age to spread their unique brand of religion. The result is a world broken in large part by unquestioned faith. As an urgently needed counter to this tried-and-true tradition of religious evangelism, this audiobook offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith - but for talking them out of it.
-
-
The first atheist missionary
- By Paul on 03-18-14
By: Peter Boghossian
-
Breaking the Spell
- Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
- By: Daniel C. Dennett
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For all the thousands of books that have been written about religion, few until this one have attempted to examine it scientifically: to ask why - and how - it has shaped so many lives so strongly. Is religion a product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice? Is it truly the best way to live a moral life? Ranging through biology, history, and psychology, Daniel C. Dennett charts religion’s evolution from “wild” folk belief to “domesticated” dogma.
-
-
Great Reader Actually Enhances A Great Book!
- By Don Caliente on 07-14-14
-
The Fatal Conceit
- The Errors of Socialism
- By: F. A. Hayek
- Narrated by: Everett Sherman
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hayek gives the main arguments for the free-market case and presents his manifesto on the "errors of socialism." Hayek argues that socialism has, from its origins, been mistaken on factual, and even on logical, grounds and that its repeated failures in the many different practical applications of socialist ideas that this century has witnessed were the direct outcome of these errors. He labels as the "fatal conceit" the idea that "man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes."
-
-
If more had these insights we'd be better off
- By Doug on 11-12-12
By: F. A. Hayek
-
Primates and Philosophers
- How Morality Evolved
- By: Frans de Waal
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"It's the animal in us," we often hear when we've been bad. But why not when we're good? Primates and Philosophers tackles this question by exploring the biological foundations of one of humanity's most valued traits: morality.In this provocative book, primatologist Frans de Waal argues that modern-day evolutionary biology takes far too dim a view of the natural world, emphasizing our "selfish" genes.
-
-
Having Just Read...
- By Douglas on 12-14-13
By: Frans de Waal
-
The Stone Reader
- Modern Philosophy in 133 Arguments
- By: Peter Catapano - editor, Simon Critchley
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt, Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 26 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once solely the province of ivory-tower professors and college classrooms, contemporary philosophy was finally emancipated from its academic closet in 2010, when "The Stone" was launched in The New York Times. First appearing as an online series, the column quickly attracted millions of readers through its accessible examination of universal topics like the nature of science, consciousness, and morality while also probing more contemporary issues such as the morality of drones, gun control, and the gender divide.
-
-
Awful
- By Dustin A Coates on 04-29-16
By: Peter Catapano - editor, and others
-
A Plea for the Animals
- The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion
- By: Matthieu Ricard, Sherab Chodzin Kohn - translator
- Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every cow just wants to be happy. Every chicken just wants to be free. Every bear, dog, or mouse experiences sorrow and feels pain as intensely as any of us humans do. In a compelling appeal to reason and human kindness, Matthieu Ricard here takes the arguments from his best sellers Altruism and Happiness to their logical conclusion: Compassion toward all beings, including our fellow animals, is a moral obligation and the direction toward which any enlightened society must aspire.
-
-
Excellent exploration of various facets of how we relate to animals
- By LBH on 12-30-19
By: Matthieu Ricard, and others
-
About Behaviorism
- By: B.F. Skinner
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
About Behaviorism is about the controversial philosophy known as behaviorism, written by its leading exponent.
-
-
Refreshing and concise
- By Autumn and Sam on 07-30-22
By: B.F. Skinner
-
This View of Life
- Completing the Darwinian Revolution
- By: David Sloan Wilson
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is widely understood that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution completely revolutionized the study of biology. Yet, according to David Sloan Wilson, the Darwinian revolution won’t be truly complete until it is applied more broadly - to everything associated with the words “human,” “culture,” and “policy.”
-
-
Utopian preaching
- By Roman on 05-15-20
-
The Science of Good and Evil
- Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule
- By: Michael Shermer
- Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Science of Good and Evil, psychologist and science historian Michael Shermer explores how humans evolved from social primates into moral primates, how and why morality motivates the human animal, and how the foundation of moral principles can be built upon empirical evidence. Along the way he explains the implications of scientific findings for fate and free will, the existence of pure good and pure evil, and the development of early moral sentiments among the first humans.
-
-
Read by author
- By Gregory A. Townsend on 04-16-23
By: Michael Shermer