Customer Reviews

Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a truly exceptional, and excellent, book. It is the best introduction to ethics and animals issues out there. Regan explains how he came to believe that animals have moral rights that make it wrong to eat, wear and experiment on them, and how he became involved in the growing movement to advance that cause. The book is really like no other; check out the book's companion webpage at http://tomregan-animalrights.com The book is highly readable and accessible, unlike a more standard strictly philosophical (and academic) discussion of the issues.

Tom Regan has made his name through relentless philosophical rigor. However, Empty Cages is not written in the style of The Case for Animal Rights. In Empty Cages, Regan pulls out the core his philosophical argument and infuses it into a public friendly form. This book is written for the general public and is highly accessible. It is meant to speak not only to the animal rights faithful, but to those who have not fully considered the issue.

Among the highlights of this book is Regan's story about his personal relationship to animal rights. Regan tells of how his current views evolved, and in doing so empathizes those who have yet to make the move to animal rights. Regan's none judgmental style will make this work a remarkably effective tool in spreading the message of animal rights. Indeed, I believe Empty Cages can and should replace Singer's Animal Liberation as the flagship introduction to the movement.

If you're unsure about the merits of animal rights then read this book.

Those of us who already believe in animal rights need to put this book in the hands of friends, family, co-workers, and local libraries.

I honestly can not think of a book that I have enjoyed more than this one in my lifetime. I am already an ARA, but I think this book is written in a way that it would be a perfect choice for someone asking the question, "What exactly is animal rights, and what do animal rights activists want us to change?'
Clearly and non-condescendingly written and thought provoking, this book might just change your world-view. Buy this book today.
[...]

This book is a must read. Regan is a great author and I look forward to buying more books from him.

Opening with quite a heart-wrenching tale that truly draws in the reader, and then never losing steam, Regan has written a highly intriguing argument in favor of animal rights. Running the gamut from factory farming to animal experimentation, and including the use of animals for entertainment purposes, Regan covers every angle and both sides to each argument. Of course, his degree in philosophy doesn't hurt when providing the reader with convincing evidence and sound logic. However, it must be noted that this book is highly accessible, even with the philosophical arguments posed herein.

Interwoven within the arguments both for and against animal rights are firsthand accounts of not only visits to factory farms and the like, but also Regan's own personal "muddling" journey from lackadaisical animal lover to animal rights activist. One might even see much of their own personal journey reflected in these pages. Furthermore, Regan is never condescending of those who have yet to make the jump to activism, for he himself took some time to blossom into the activist he is today.

The only reason I give this book four stars instead of five is because much of the material is indeed recycled. For the seasoned animal rights activist, there is not much new to be found within these pages. However, if you are on the fence about animal rights, and perhaps are on your own "muddling" journey from animal lover to activist, this book is inclined to push you towards the latter, and for good reason. This book is very highly recommended for anyone curious about animal rights. The book ends on a positive note, calling for more people to act out so that animal rights can become a reality and not just an intriguing notion. This book certainly needs to be placed in the hands of friends and family everywhere.

This introductory book summarized Mr. Regan's idea of animal rights in a very accessible way. The stories of his own "muddler's" journey were fun to read.

Tom Regan,is a professor of philosophy at North Carolina State University, and he doesnt come off as some goody two shoes who has all the answers, but the questions he asks and how he came to his views are what made the book interesting to me. In the beginning he thought like most of us that animals were here for our convenience.

He notes his meat eating, zoo visiting and leather, fur purchases, which makes him more 'real' to me since I do and have done the same. And yes he did read the works of Mohandas Gandhi
and Gandhi's views on the treatment of animals.

He writes of the factory farms and how the majority of animals are raised for food and entertainment. And how science misuses millions of animals yearly. Rats and mice are animals.

Now I feel a tad hypocritical because I still eat meat. But I also live a rural existence and meat isn't a daily or often a weekly choice. And I have benefited from animals who were sacrificed for years so my son could have insulin as a baby. I wear leather shoes which I repair over and over.

The book has more positive than negative value. For me the issues that seemed to have no answer were how do you get billions of people world wide to stop eating animals, and what happens to all the domestic and farm animals in a perfect world who suddenly are not harvested for food? And what about animals that are killed to feed cats and dogs?

And what about the whole idea of the human animal being killed in wars? Or not being allowed to die from disease, but instead, often kept alive at a cost of millions per person?

This book doesn't provide an inescapable chain of logic leading to Regan's conclusion. Few people will be convinced of his position out of pure reason unless they were headed that direction already. However, the book is good for educating the general public about what goes on in the animal use businesses. Most people are overly optimistic about the usual procedures, and if they were more aware they might reduce their animal consumption or boycott the worst companies.

It is difficult to find much novelty in Regan's latest iteration of his animal rights philosophy. Most of the content is recyled; either from Regan's extensive bibliography, restatements of other animal rightists, or provocative examples of animal abuse (starting with an HBO shockumentary describing the preparation of cat in a Chinese restaurant). Regan personalizes the book by describing the path he traveled in becoming a born-again animal rightist, replete with Biblical analogy. The autobiographical section is more revealing by what is not mentioned; his revised attitude toward pet ownership. Seems that this travelogue falls short of its destination. However pursuing Regan's philosophy to its endpoint, it is to commit suicide to eliminate the suffering he (self-admittedly) continues to cause for animals and return his body to the biomass for the benefit of animals. Another deficiency of the book is the inability to draw the line between species that have rights - e.g., chickens, cattle, pigs, and those that do not. Especially problematic are such broad phylogenetic categories as mollusks and arthropods. Regan turns a blind eye to those who would tear the wings off of flies, perhaps because that would require him to condemn insecticides as well. No doubt Regan is a kindly and noble soul dedicated to espousing a philosophy and a lifestyle aimed at reducing animal suffering. However, the short-sightedness of his philosophical principle, which can be summarized as "Humans have no right to exploit animals for their benefit.", overlooks the catastrophic consequences that would ensue should we ever try to follow his advice and defy the ecology of the planet in which we evolved and in which we continue to exist.