| dc.description.abstract | In this dissertation, I argue that recognizing and honoring kinship with nonhuman others transforms animal ethics and environmental ethics by bringing values of connectedness, interdependence, reciprocity, and relationality to the fore of ethical thought. In order to do so, I explore some of the ways that humans stand in a kinship relation with nonhuman parts of nature, and how the recognition of this relationship requires fundamental changes to traditional Western moral theories and modes of thinking. I argue that kinship with nonhuman others is an essential part of ethical thought by examining the ways in which kinship implicitly functions as a normative ethical concept in many contemporary approaches to animal ethics and environmental ethics. In particular, I examine Christine Korsgaard’s Kantian approach and Peter Singer’s utilitarian approach to animal ethics, as well as the contributions of feminist care ethicists, and eco-phenomenologists to animal ethics and environmental ethics. Through this analysis, I draw out some of the different ways in which kinship relations establish moral obligations, shape our perception of what it means to relate ethically, and how kinship impacts our lives. Ultimately, I argue that kinship matters because seeing others as kin transforms our understanding of our relationship with our environment and our ethical obligations to other humans, nonhuman animals, and other parts of nature. Throughout, I aim to emphasize that recognizing kinship with nonhuman others requires challenging existing Western, colonial notions of kin as biological and legal relatives, and attending specifically to the relations we have with the other animals, plants, fungi, and the land around us with openness and curiosity. Finally, I conclude by gesturing toward some of the ways that kinship not only transforms ethical thought, but carries social and political implications—namely, that attention to kinship forces us to recognize the connections between humans and nonhuman parts of nature and to acknowledge the ways white supremacy, capitalism, and colonization have contributed to environmental injustice, as well as reaffirming the necessity of working to eliminate oppressive institutions. | |
