Launch of the Montreal Declaration on Animal Exploitation
The Montreal Declaration Against Animal Exploitation is the result of the initiative of three researchers from the Groupe de recherche en environnement et animale (GRÉEA), affiliated with the Centre de recherche en éthique (CRÉ), in Montreal.
More than 400 academics from over 40 countries, specializing in moral and political philosophy, proclaim the fundamental unjust nature of animal exploitation, based on the current state of knowledge in their field of expertise.
« We condemn all practices that involve treating animals as things or commodities. To the extent that it involves unnecessary violence and harm, we declare that animal exploitation is unjust and morally indefensible. »
To attend the launch on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, with Martin Gibert, Valéry Giroux and François Jaquet and watch the surprise video, it’s here.
This statement ethically echoes the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, stating that « converging evidence indicates that non-human animals possess the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states as well as the capacity to engage in intentional behavior. »
The signatories state that the main arguments used to support animal exploitation do not have the relevance required to justify it morally. This is particularly true of arguments based on the sophisticated cognitive abilities of humans.
« An individual’s ability to compose symphonies, to make advanced mathematical calculations, or to project into the distant future, however admirable, does not affect the consideration due to his or her interest in experiencing pleasure and freedom from pain. The interests of the more intelligent among us are not more important than the equivalent interests of the less intelligent. To hold otherwise would be to rank individuals according to a faculty that has no moral relevance. »
Although their work is rooted in diverse philosophical traditions, these scholars thus agree on the condemnation of speciesism and the need to profoundly transform our relationships with other animals by ending their exploitation. Such a position, once held by a few people particularly sensitive to the fate of animals, is now supported for the first time by hundreds of researchers who have dedicated their careers to ethical reflection.
The signatories are in favor of closing down slaughterhouses, ending fishing and developing plant-based agriculture, but they admit lucidly that, even if it is « the only collective horizon that is both realistic and just, » such a project will require « abandoning deep-seated speciesist habits and profoundly transforming some of our institutions.
In 2022, the Montreal Declaration on Animal Exploitation is certainly a milestone in the philosophically supported recognition of non-human animals.
If you are a researcher in moral or political philosophy, you can sign the Declaration here.