TA 4/2020 (125. vuosikerta)

Justice for Living Beings: Porphyry’s Ethics of Abstinence — In this article, I argue that Porphyry’s conception of justice in On abstinence is remarkable for several reasons. While I agree with Fay Edwards that Porphyry does not assume the moral status of animals to depend on their rationality, I argue that Porphyry’s claim is not based on any form of the assumption that animals deserve moral consideration only if they share some relevant property with human beings. Contrary to Edwards, I argue that this is not because justice is irrelevant to animals in On abstinence 3. Rather, extending abstinence from causing harm to humans to apply also to non-human animals and plants is a constitutive element in the higher forms of justice that Porphyry requires of philosophers.

The Hierarchy of Humans and Other Animals and the Ethical Demands of Animal Theology — In this article, I examine arguments on hierarchy and anthropocentrism within animal theology. Hierarchy is problematized in animal theology, since it is the basis for anthropocentrism and among the bases for the instrumental treatment of animals. Hierarchy between humans and other animals can be interpreted either functionally or relationally or as the result of differences in moral value. I argue that, in both cases, hierarchy is, nevertheless, a crucial part of the construction of non-anthropocentric, ethical human relationships with animals. That is, even though hierarchy can function as grounds for anthropocentrism, anthropocentrism is not a necessary result of hierarchy construction.

The Time After Humanity: The Theology of Thomas Altizer and Posthumanism — This article examines Thomas J. J. Altizer’s “Death of God” theology and its compatibility with the field of posthuman theory, particularly in the work of Rosi Braidotti. Traditional versions of Christianity are usually incompatible with posthumanism due to the materialist underpinnings of the latter. I show how special features of Altizer’s theology can in fact be combined with non-anthropocentric posthumanism —namely, its compatibility with the ideas of materialism and perspectivism. By combining Altizer’s ideas on the self-emptying of God with non-anthropocentric theory, I further show how the combination of theology and posthumanism can have notable consequences for theological ethics.

Evil in Human-Animal Relations and the Possibility of Liberation: Farm Animal Obituaries as Communal and Educational Salvation Narratives — This multidisciplinary article examines the formation of alternative human–animal relations in the context of farm animal sanctuaries. The research material consists of farm animal obituaries published online by two sanctuaries, one in Finland and the other in the US. The material is approached from the perspective of the ritualization of non-human death through discourse analysis. The results show how a common salvation narrative identified from the data contributes to attempts to achieve moral ideals and resist various constructions of evil, as well as to implement specific educational aims. Also, this narrative plays a significant role not only in the construction of the social identity of the sanctuaries but also in the negotiation of their relationships with the surrounding society.