Other Minds

Episode 33 · September 20th, 2014 · 1 hr 40 mins

About this Episode

Can non-human animals be “victims” of a crime? The Oregon Supreme Court recently decided they could be. We talk with Matthew Liebman, senior attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, about the law of animals. Why and how do we prohibit animal cruelty? Is it to protect our own feelings, the inherent rights of animals themselves, a little of both? Does prohibiting cruelty protect us from hurting one another? Does a housefly have a right to an education? We discuss the difficulties of being perfect, the omnipresence of trade-offs, whaling by native peoples, whether a chimpanzee can sue in habeas corpus. And, come to think of it, why does Joe pronounce chimpanzee incorrectly, and how did he get Christian to start doing the same? This is the one about the role of animals in a system of human cooperation, and it features an all to brief return of the monkey selfie. (And we finally get to some of the excellent listener feedback we’ve gotten. Keep it coming: oralargumentpodcast@gmail.com.)

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