Predators, Pain, and Simulation - A First-Person Reckoning with Predator Free 2050

Abstract

Actor-network theory (ANT) has long provided a non-hierarchical framework for knowledge creation. Recent formulations of flat ontology have given the approach new traction. This assemblage model of knowledge production offers one way to understand the non-human other. While ANT is pertinent to questions of animal suffering, the writings of Peter Singer remain central to the moral claim that suffering should animate human compassion. In combination, ANT’s assumed equivalence of human actors and non-human actants and Singer’s utilitarian call for animal liberation have shaped animal studies for decades.