Wild Justice Redux: What We Know About Social Justice in Animals and Why It Matters (trans. D. Chabrajska)

Jessica PIERCE

Center for Bioethics and Humanities, University of Colorado Health Sciences, Denver, Colorado, 80540, USA , United States

Marc BEKOFF

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ramaley Hall, The University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309-0334, USA , United States

Dorota CHABRAJSKA

John Paul II Institute, Faculty of Philosophy, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland , Poland

Abstract

Social justice in animals is beginning to attract interest in a broad range of academic disciplines. Justice is an important area of study because it may help explain social dynamics among individuals living in tightly-knit groups, as well as social interactions among individuals who only occasionally meet. In this paper, we provide an overview of what is currently known about social justice in animals and offer an agenda for further research. We provide working definitions of key terms, outline some central research questions, and explore some of the challenges of studying social justice in animals, as well as the promise of the work we are proposing. Finally, we suggest why continued research into animal cognition and social behavior has significant ethical implications for our treatment of nonhuman animals.

 

Originally published as: Jessica Pierce & Marc Bekoff, Wild Justice Redux: What We Know About Social Justice in Animals and Why It Matters, “Social Justice Research” 25(2012) no. 2, pp. 122-139; DOI 10.1007/s11211-012-0154-y. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012. With kind permission from Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Keywords:

social justice, animals, wild justice, play, prosocial, captive, fairness, inequity aversion, ethics, empathy, cooperation, morality, primates, canids, cognitive ethology