Translator and philosopher Behnam Khodapanah has chosen the late American philosopher Tom Regan’s 2003 book ‘Animal Rights, Human Wrongs’ for a Persian rendering to be published by Kargadan Publishing House in Tehran next year.
Regan (1938-2017) specialized in animal rights wrote numerous books on the philosophy of animal rights and significantly influenced the modern animal rights movement.
And for the philosophizing translator, it is not the first book on animal rights. Khodapanah, 30, has also rendered ‘Animal Liberation’ (1975) by Australian moral philosopher Peter Singer, 71. An ethics for treatment of animals, the book has recently been released by Phoenix Publications in Tehran, IBNA reported.
Seeing the need for fostering a positive concern for animals, Khodapanah has his second translation on the subject at hand. ‘Animal Right, Human Wrongs: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy’ makes a strong argument for animal rights through the exploration of two questions central to moral theory: What makes an act right? What makes an act wrong?
Taking into consideration moral theories such as contractarianism (a general ethical theory that individuals make the right choices under a hypothetical social contract), utilitarianism (the doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority) and Kant’s ethics (actions are morally right in virtue of their motives, which must derive more from duty than from inclination), Regan provides the theoretical framework that grounds a responsible pro-animal rights perspective, and ultimately explores how asking moral questions about other animals can lead to a better understanding of self.
