Of Animals, Robots and Men

Abstract

Domesticated animals need to be treated as fellow citizens: Only if we conceive of domesticated animals as full members of our political communities can we do justice to their moral standing – or so Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka argue in their widely discussed book Zoopolis. In this contribution, we pursue two objectives. Firstly, we will reject Donaldson and Kymlicka’s appeal for animal citizenship. We will do so by submitting that far from paying due heed to their moral status, regarding animals as citizens misinterprets their moral qualities and thus risks treating them unjustly. Secondly, we will suggest that Donaldson and Kymlicka’s reinforced focus on membership should draw our attention to the moral standing of a further ‘species’ living in our midst, namely robots. Developments within artificial intelligence have advanced rapidly in recent years. With robots gaining ever greater capacities and abilities, we need to ask urgent questions about the moral ramifications of these technical advances.