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Description

This is the first multidisciplinary book that addresses the ethics of fur. Whatever might have been true of the past, the production of fur is now morally problematic in terms of both necessity and suffering. There is no necessity in killing animals for nonessential purposes, such as adornment, fashion, or vanity. The argument for utility simply doesn’t hold up. Alternative clothing is now readily available, enduring, and less costly. Worse still, since we know that the animals exploited are sentient, causing them suffering or making animals liable to suffering is arguably intrinsically wrong.

The purpose of this volume is to open up and advance further the ethical, political, and specifically legislative endeavors now moving at pace and to encourage the anti-fur movement. That said, there is much to learn from this book about the history, culture, and political arguments for and against fur that should interest scholars and students, as well as those engaged on either side of the debate. It is not common for academics to engage with pressing and contentious moral issues, and we pay tribute to our eighteen contributors for leading the way.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Increasing Ethical Sensitivity around Fur
Andrew Linzey and Clair Linzey

Part I: Historical and Religious Perspectives

Chapter 1: From the Pleistocene to COVID-19: A Brief History of Fur
Adam Bridgen
Chapter 2: “Thou Shalt Not Use the Skins of Any Living Creature”: The Original Anti-Fur Activist, Thomas Tryon (1634–1703)
Adam Bridgen
Chapter 3: The New England Fur Trade: The Ethics of Puritan Dress in a Portrait of Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton
Linda M. Johnson
Chapter 4: The Nineteenth-Century Boycott against Feathered Hats
Robyn Hederman
Chapter 5: Corpse “Contamination” as a Religious Approach to Fur
Sidney Blankenship
Chapter 6: Of Ermines, Cats, and “the Best-Dressed Pontiff Ever”: The Ethics of Fur-Trimmed Clerical Garb
Kurt Remele

Part II: Ethical and Cultural Perspectives

Chapter 7: A Case of Wrongful Use: An Ethical Analysis of the Use of Animal Fur
Frances M. C. Robinson
Chapter 8: If a Fox Could Talk: Wittgenstein and the Calculated Silencing of Anima

Product details

Published Jul 24 2023
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 318
ISBN 9781666937947
Imprint Lexington Books
Illustrations 1 b/w photos; 4 tables;
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

ONLINE RESOURCES

Bloomsbury Collections

This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.

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