Description
Book SynopsisPutting Humans First passionately argues for the primacy of human life in the natural world and the corresponding justice of humans making use of animals; it disputes the concept of animal rights and animal liberation. It shows human beings to be very much a part of nature, though not, ordinarily, of the wilds. Given their nature, Machan argues that human beings not only can, but ought to use nature to serve their own needs.
Trade ReviewIn Putting Humans First, Machan offers an insightful, philosophic, and practical assessment of animal rights and environmental movements. Machan reveals how these philosophies would willingly sacrifice human freedoms by denying basic truths about both man and nature. He shows us that stewardship would be better served by celebrating and employing—rather than vilifying—mankind’s creative and moral nature. -- Angela Logomasini, director of risk and environmental policy, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Tibor R. Machan doesn't like the animal-rights or radical environment movements, and with good cause. Both exhibit anti-human attitudes, he writes, for each rejects the idea that human beings should be the primary concern of human beings. A Chapman University professor, Machan begins his slim volume on a strong note with a cogent critique of the philosophical underpinnings of animal-liberation philosophy. -- Wesley Smith * The Weekly Standard *
Putting Humans First should become the gold standard for warm and friendly human beings endeavoring to understand and explain why, though we may love animals and nature, they are intrinsically inferior to humans. -- Jay Lehr, science director for The Heartland Institute
A defense of human primacy in a hierarchy of nature and a critique of radical environmentalism. * The Chronicle of Higher Education *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 A Case for Animal Rights? Chapter 2 The Case for Specieism Chapter 3 A Sound Environmentalism Chapter 4 Putting Humans First
