Join the philosophy department's Center for Values and Social Policy for a Think! talk by doctoral candidate Cheryl Abbate. The public talk will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 25.
Who: Open to the public
What: Think! Talk: "Feline Liberty and the Right to be a Cat"
When: Thursday, Jan. 25, 5:30–7 p.m.
Where: Hellems Arts and Sciences, room 199
Abbate will discuss the widespread belief that cats should be permanently confined to the indoors for their own safety and for the protection of wildlife. Against this view, she will be argue that cat guardians have a duty to provide their feline companions with outdoor access. The argument is based on an account of animal well-being that takes seriously both the interests of animals and the capacities that are characteristic of their species.
Maintaining a territory, which requires outdoor access, is an innate feline capacity, so when a cat is permanently confined to the indoors, her ability to flourish is impaired. Since cat guardians have a duty not to impair the well-being of their cats, Abbate argues the impairment of cat flourishing via confinement signifies moral failure.
Although some cats face significant risks and sometimes kill wild animals when roaming outdoors, these important considerations do not imply all cats should be deprived of the opportunity to access the outdoors. Indeed, they do not, by themselves, imply that any cat should be permanently confined to the indoors.
Abbate specializes in nonhuman animal ethics and has published on topics such as the intersection of animal ethics and abortion, the ethics of defensive killing and animals, the duty to assist animals who are treated unjustly and the role of compassion in animal rights theory.
