Die Stellung des Tiers in einem Empathie-basierten Kontraktualismus

At the center of this work is the question of the moral status of animals, the examination of contractualist attempts to justify this status, and the presentation of a new contractualism that allows for moral consideration of animals. An attempt at a contractualism based on human empathy is made. Empathy is viewed from the perspective of evolutionary theory and its relationship to morality is explored. This is followed by a description of how the rational actors in a state of nature can be conceived in such a contractualism and how they can arrive at their moral judgments.