Kinship With Our Fellow Creatures: Korsgaard's Kantian Account of Animal Ethics and the Moral Weight of Kinship

Abstract:In this article, I argue that kinship implicitly operates as a normative ethical concept in Christine Korsgaard's account of animal ethics. I begin with an examination of the key theoretical foundations of Korsgaard's account and then examine the ways kinship operates as an ethical concept in her account, arguing that the ethical obligations she discusses are fundamentally grounded in a recognition of kinship with other animals. I conclude by recognizing that there are many remaining questions about kinship and animal ethics but that the concept holds significant potential for thinking about the ethical obligations that we have to nonhuman animals.