Interspecies Political Scales and the Question of Legitimacy

Abstract

Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka do us a great service in reminding us that when thinking about the relevant scales of our political relations with animals, it is crucial that we are not stymied by limiting ideas of unitary nation-states. We ought to embrace the very different and often overlapping political relations and affinities that humans share with animals. And these in turn invite thinking through what new forms of polity might facilitate human-animal flourishing. But in so doing, we must confront the first question of politics: how can these new forms of polity be rendered legitimate to the individuals subject to them?  In this paper, I focus primarily on how such polities might be rendered legitimate to the human members who will be burdened by such new forms of community. This, I argue, invites consideration of the important interplay between the individual and collective scales of our political relations with animals, and the importance of cultivating solidaristic feelings of affiliation and sacrifice between members.