Animalismo e non violenza. L’incidenza della lezione gandhiana sul pensiero di Tom Regan

In opposition to the anthropocentric model of domination, in Gandhi as in Regan there is the full recovery of an ethical-philosophical tradition based on the model of kinship or fraternity and that insists on the possibility of extending the rules of justice to all living beings. The result of this perspective is the duty of vegetarianism and the radical opposition to any practice that treats animals as means at the service of human interests. But Gandhi’s lesson is particularly useful both to address the properly political issues arising from animal ethics, that are at the heart of Regan’s philosophy (starting with the debate on the nature and justification of animal rights theories and their possible inclusion in the political community), and to define the most appropriate non-violent fighting strategies for the achievement of the aims of animal rights defenders.

Recognition, Rights, and Reasonable Expectations

This chapter provides an analysis of the way in which rights theories in private international law are constructed depending on whether one takes the state or the individual as the point of reference and whether one portrays an individualistic or a relational image of the transnational agent. It outlines the differences between early nineteenth-century individualistic theories, late nineteenth century state-centered rights theories, and the nineteenth-century relational internationalist perspective introduced in Chapter 2. The chapter suggests that historically the misrecognition of individuals and their pleas for justice was a corollary to the state-centered internationalist position under the private-public international law association. It further argues that relational internationalist theorists tried to create a cross-reference between individual reasonable expectations and larger sociopolitical considerations. Such theories emphasized a spectrum from liberty to social responsibility, based on their differentiation and analysis of the various types of private law relationships in the transnational realm.

Harrington, James (1611–77)

Harrington was the premier English republican political theorist. His The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656), published soon after the Civil War, analysed the collapse of monarchy and recommended institutions for a perfect commonwealth. He argued that forms of government were shaped by modes of land tenure; the decline of the feudal aristocracy and rise of the gentry rendered monarchy inviable. His proposed republic entailed regular elections for all public offices and secret ballots among a citizenry of independent gentlemen. Harrington influenced English, American and French radicals throughout the eighteenth century. Today he tends to be a talisman for those who would inject an aspect of ‘civic republicanism’ or ‘public virtue’ into contemporary politics, by contrast with the liberal rights theories of the natural jurisprudence tradition.