Elisa Aatola

A collection of essays designed to advance philosophical thinking about attitudes toward and relationships with animals by bringing together new perspectives regarding animal ethics rooted in metaethics, metaphilosophy, epistemology and moral psychology.

Recognizing that the term “empathy,” although increasingly important in both moral theory and animal ethics, is often not precisely defined, this work seeks to clarify the different and sometimes contradictory ways in which the word is used and to compare and contrast cognitive, affective and reflective empathy and their effects on our behavior toward animals.