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Research Articles
Submitted: 2016-06-21
Published: 2017-04-08

Cosmopolitanism in a Carnivorous World

Western Governors University
Animals Consumption Cosmopolitanism Derrida International Relations Shklar Veganism

Abstract

This essay contributes to an emerging “animal turn” in political theory and International Relations by exploring the possibilities of a cosmopolitanism that is more attentive to human consumption prac- tices involving bodily harm to and destruction of animals. Intertwining Jacques Derrida’s work on hospitality and animals, Judith Shklar’s insights on legalism and passive injustice, and studies on an- imal morality and emotion, I develop what I call “vegan cosmopolitanism.” Vegan cosmopolitanism is a reimagining of cosmopolitanism that is inclusive of nonhuman animals within the global communi- ty and considers the consumption of animal products as a matter of cosmopolitan justice. The ar- guments in this essay seek to reorient cosmopolitanism as a non-anthropocentric perspective on global justice in pursuit of realizing the always-present possibilities of new and inventive ways of encountering and attending to the vulnerabilities of “other” living beings. 

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