Melanie Challenger: Animals in the Room

Species Unite

elizabeth novogratz

Society & Culture, Philosophy

5 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2024

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“I think one of the reasons dignity matters to animals is that they are objectified. They are stripped of their agency very often, and they're also caught up in power relations with human beings that do not go in their favor in, in the overwhelming number of cases. But it's also grounds why they have a right to be subjects of justice, doesn't it? So, it is the fact that they are subjects, that they are agents, that they their voices matter in a political sense.” – Melanie Challenger

Melanie Challenger wears a lot of hats— she’s an artist, philosopher, poet and writer, deputy co-chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and a Vice President of the RSPCA UK. She is the author of On Extinction: How we became estranged from nature (2011), How to Be Animal: What it means to be human (2021), and anthology editor of Animal Dignity: Philosophical Reflections on Non-human Existence (2023).

Melanie is bringing her decades of experience in both science and the arts to come up with a solution to a big question: how can non-human animals be represented in the process of making crucial decisions that affect their lives? This project is called Animals in the Room. It began during the pandemic and is an international collaboration of philosophers, scientists and animal welfare specialists who are working together to devise and test models for representing non-human.

Links:

Melanie Challenger: https://www.melaniechallenger.com/about/

Animals in the Room: https://animalsintheroom.org/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Species species unite united.
0:12.4	I think one of the reasons dignity matters to animals is that they are
0:17.6	objectified they are stripped of their agency very often and they're also caught up in power
0:24.8	relations with human beings that do not go in their favour in in the overwhelming
0:30.6	number of cases but it's also grounds why they have a right to be
0:36.2	subjects of justice, doesn't it? So it is the fact that they are subjects, that they are agents, that they, that they, their voices matter in a political sense. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Novigrats, this is Species Unite. We have a favor to ask if you like today's episode and you have a spare minute
1:05.8	could you please rate and review species unite on Apple Podcast or wherever you
1:11.5	listen to podcasts it really helps people to find the show.
1:17.0	This conversation is with Melanie Challenger.
1:25.0	Melanie wears a lot of hats.
1:26.6	She's an artist and philosopher, a poet and a writer,
1:29.8	vice president of the RSPCA UK,
1:32.4	and deputy co-chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics,
1:36.7	and she is bringing her decades of experience in both science and the arts to come up with a solution
1:42.0	to a big question.
1:44.0	How can non-human animals be represented in the process of making
1:48.2	crucial decisions that affect their lives?
1:51.6	This project is called Animals in the Room. It began during the
1:55.7	pandemic and is an international collaboration of philosophers, scientists, and
2:00.8	animal welfare specialists who are working together to devise and test models for representing non-human animals in decision-making.
2:09.0	And that is what she's here to talk to you.
2:33.6	And there are so many things we could talk about
	...

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