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A Plea for the Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion Audiobook
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A powerful and wide-ranging indictment of the treatment of animals by humans—and an eloquent plea for animal rights
Every cow just wants to be happy. Every chicken just wants to be free. Every bear, dog, or mouse experiences sorrow and feels pain as intensely as any of us humans do. In a compelling appeal to reason and human kindness, Matthieu Ricard here takes the arguments from his bestsellers Altruism and Happiness to their logical conclusion: that compassion toward all beings, including our fellow animals, is a moral obligation and the direction toward which any enlightened society must aspire. He chronicles the appalling sufferings of the animals we eat, wear, and use for adornment or "entertainment," and submits every traditional justification for their exploitation to scientific evidence and moral scrutiny. What arises is an unambiguous and powerful ethical imperative for treating all of the animals with whom we share this planet with respect and compassion.
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“Examines the fraught relationship between humans and animals, proposing a new ethic to govern it. ‘Can the notion of rights really be restricted to the human species when there exist at least 7.7 million species of animals?’…Fascinating, if a source of as many questions as answers, and essential fuel for any discussion of the rights of animals.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“Fascinating, instructive, and compelling, speaking to us on both an intellectual and emotional level.”
— Jane Goodall, primatologist and New York Times bestselling author -
“Draw[s] on science and philosophy to show that compassion cannot be limited to members of our own species but must be extended to all beings capable of suffering. ”
— Peter Singer, author of Practical Ethics -
“An outstanding and well-referenced book that surely will make a difference for the billions of nonhumans who routinely suffer globally at the hands of humans, be it in slaughterhouses, laboratories, or other captive situations, or in what’s left of their natural environs…And it will be a win-win for all concerned.”
— Marc Bekoff, author of Canine Confidential -
“Makes a strong argument for treating animals with respect and compassion…An important contribution to the literature on animal rights.”
— Publishers Weekly
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About Matthieu Ricard
Matthieu Ricard, a Buddhist monk, trained as a molecular biologist before moving to Nepal to study Buddhism. He is the author or co-author of several books, including The Monk and the Philosopher, The Quantum and the Lotus, Happiness, The Art of Meditation, Altruism, A Plea for the Animals, and Beyond the Self:, among others. Conversations between Buddhism and Neuroscience. He is the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama.
About Shaun Grindell
Shaun Grindell, actor and Earphones Award–winning narrator, was born and raised in Southampton, England. His training includes the Calland School of Speech and Drama and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in London. He has been seen on stage in London and Las Vegas.