John Hadley

Western Sydney University
  •  31
    Using and abusing others: A reply to Machan (review)
    Journal of Value Inquiry 38 (3): 411-414. 2004.
    In this paper I run a 'marginal cases' type argument against Machan's claim that moral agents ought to be able to use animals.
  •  36
    Street Photography Ethics
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 25 (4): 529-540. 2022.
    In this paper I examine the ethics of street photography. I firstly discuss the close-up ‘in-your-face’ style street photography made famous by American photographer, Bruce Gilden. In close-up street photography, the proximity of the camera to the subject and the element of surprise work in tandem to produce a striking and evocative picture. Close-up street photography is shown to be ethically contentious on wellbeing-related and autonomy-related grounds. I next examine the more orthodox ‘respec…Read more
  •  8
    I present a neopragmatist theory of animal ethics. The two key elements of animal neopragmatism are 'relational hedonism' and an expressivist analysis of animal rights vocabulary. The theory can avoid the pitfalls faced by orthodox analytic animal rights theories and solves two pressing problems: the so-called changing the subject problem and the political problem of welfare.
  •  48
    Excluding Destruction
    Philosophy in the Contemporary World 12 (2): 22-29. 2005.
    In this paper I argue that the potentially environmentally destructive scope of a libertarian property rights regime can be narrowed by applying reasonable limits to those rights. I will claim that excluding the right to destroy from the libertarian property rights bundle is consistent with self-ownership and Robert Nozick’s interpretation of the Lockean proviso.
  •  9
    The Duty to Aid Nonhuman Animals in Dire Need
    Journal of Applied Philosophy 23 (4): 445-451. 2006.
    abstract Most moral philosophers accept that we have obligations to provide at least some aid and assistance to distant strangers in dire need. Philosophers who extend rights and obligations to nonhuman animals, however, have been less than explicit about whether we have any positive duties to free‐roaming or ‘wild’ animals. I argue our obligations to free‐roaming nonhuman animals in dire need are essentially no different to those we have to severely cognitively impaired distant strangers. I add…Read more
  •  33
    From Welfare to Rights without Changing the Subject
    Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 20 (5): 993-1004. 2017.
    In this paper I introduce the ‘changing the subject’ problem. When proponents of animal protection use terms such as dignity and respect they can be fairly accused of shifting debate from welfare to rights because the terms purportedly refer to properties and values that are logically distinct from the capacity to suffer and the moral significance of causing animals pain. To avoid this problem and ensure that debate proceeds in the familiar terms of the established welfare paradigm, I present an…Read more
  •  1
    Ethics and the Beast‐ By Tzachi Zamir (review)
    Philosophical Books 49 (3): 279-280. 2008.
  •  43
    Non-autonomous sentient beings and original acquisition
    Analysis 77 (2): 292-299. 2017.
    Libertarians concede that non-autonomous sentient beings pose a problem for their theory. But, while they acknowledge that libertarianism denies non-autonomous sentient beings basic moral rights, libertarians have overlooked how their theory also denies non-autonomous sentient beings basic moral powers. In this article, I show how the libertarian entitlement theory of justice, specifically, the theory for the original acquisition of holdings, denies non-autonomous sentient beings the moral power…Read more
  •  85
    The duty to aid nonhuman animals in dire need
    Journal of Applied Philosophy 23 (4). 2006.
    abstract Most moral philosophers accept that we have obligations to provide at least some aid and assistance to distant strangers in dire need. Philosophers who extend rights and obligations to nonhuman animals, however, have been less than explicit about whether we have any positive duties to free‐roaming or ‘wild’ animals. I argue our obligations to free‐roaming nonhuman animals in dire need are essentially no different to those we have to severely cognitively impaired distant strangers. I add…Read more
  •  44
    Critique of Callicott's biosocial moral theory
    Ethics and the Environment 12 (1): 67-78. 2007.
    : J. Baird Callicott's claim to have unified environmentalism and animal liberation should be rejected by holists and liberationists. By making relations of intimacy necessary for moral considerability, Callicott excludes from the moral community nonhuman animals unable to engage in intimate relations due to the circumstances of their confinement. By failing to afford moral protection to animals in factory farms and research laboratories, Callicott's biosocial moral theory falls short of meeting…Read more
  •  471
    In this paper I extend liberal property rights theory to nonhuman animals.I sketch an outline of a nonhuman animal property rights regime and argue that both proponents of animal rights and ecological holism ought to accept nonhuman animal property rights. To conclude I address a series of objections.
  •  255
    Animal rights and self-defense theory
    Journal of Value Inquiry 43 (2): 165-177. 2009.
    In this paper I bring together self-defense theory and animal rights theory. The extension of self-defense theory to animals poses a serious problem for proponents of animal rights. If, in line with orthodox self-defense theory, a person is a legitimate target for third-party self-defensive violence if they are responsible for a morally unjustified harm without an acceptable excuse; and if, in line with animal rights theory, people that consume animal products are responsible for unjustified har…Read more
  •  20
    Recent proposals to improve public communication about animal-based biomedical research have been narrowly focused on reforming biomedical journal submission guidelines. My suggestion for communication reform is broader in scope reaching beyond the research community to healthcare communicators and ultimately the general public. The suggestion is for researchers to provide journalists and public relations practitioners with concise summaries of their ‘animal use data’. Animal use data is collect…Read more
  •  31
    Ethics and the beast - by Tzachi Zamir
    Philosophical Books 49 (3): 279-280. 2008.
    No Abstract
  •  28
    Third-party intervention has been the focus of recent debate in self-defense theory. When is it permissible for third-parties to intervene on behalf of an innocent victim facing an unjustified attack or threat? In line with recent self-defense theory, if an attacker is morally responsible for their actions and does not have an acceptable excuse then it is permissible for third-parties to use proportionate violence against them
  •  2
    Paying their Way: Dissident Opinion, Advertising and Access to the Public Sphere
    Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics 10 (1-2). 2010.
    In this paper I suggest practical measures that can address some familiar, and some not so familiar, commercial obstacles to increasing media coverage of dissident opinion.The kernel of my proposal is for media codes of practice and workplace norms to reflect an ethical distinction between different kinds of commercial speech.
  •  413
    Animal rights extremism and the terrorism question
    Journal of Social Philosophy 40 (3): 363-378. 2009.
    In this paper I extend orthodox just-war terrorism theory to the phenomenon of extremist violence on behalf of nonhuman animals.I argue that most documented cases of so-called animal rights extremism do not quality as terrorism.
  •  39
    World Poverty, Animal Minds and the Ethics of Veterinary Expenditure
    with Siobhan O'Sullivan
    Environmental Values 18 (3): 361-378. 2009.
    In this paper we make an argument for limiting veterinary expenditure on companion animals. The argument combines two principles: the obligation to give and the self-consciousness requirement. In line with the former, we ought to give money to organisations helping to alleviate preventable suffering and death in developing countries; the latter states that it is only intrinsically wrong to painlessly kill an individual that is self-conscious. Combined, the two principles inform an argument along…Read more
  •  76
    Liberty and Valuing Sentient Life
    Ethics and the Environment 18 (1): 87-103. 2013.
    In “Do Animals have an Interest in Liberty?” Alasdair Cochrane brings some much needed attention to the ethics of animal confinement (2009a). Of particular significance is the question of whether confinement in itself is bad for nonhuman animal (hereafter, animal) well-being. If confinement conditions cause animals to suffer or frustrate their preferences it is safe to assume that liberty or freedom (following Cochrane, I use the terms interchangeably) would be instrumentally good for them. But,…Read more
  •  60
    Animal Ethics and Philosophy: Questioning the Orthodoxy (edited book)
    Rowman & Littlefield International. 2014.
    Bringing together new theory and critical perspectives on a broad range of topics in animal ethics, this book examines the implications of recent developments in the various fields that bear upon animal ethics. Showcasing a new generation of thinkers, it exposes some important shortcomings in existing animal rights theory
  •  20
    Recent social science research indicates that animal rights philosophy plays the functional role of a religion in the lives of the most committed animal rights advocates. In this paper, I apply the functional religion thesis to the recent debate over the place of direct action animal rights advocacy in democratic theory. I outline the usefulness of the functional religion thesis and explain its implications for theorists that call for deliberative theories to be more inclusive of coercive forms …Read more
  •  44
    Confining ‘Disenhanced’ Animals
    NanoEthics 6 (1): 41-46. 2012.
    Abstract   Drawing upon evolutionary theory and the work of Daniel Dennett and Nicholas Agar, I offer an argument for broadening discussion of the ethics of disenhancement beyond animal welfare concerns to a consideration of animal “biopreferences”. Short of rendering animals completely unconscious or decerebrate, it is reasonable to suggest that disenhanced animals will continue to have some preferences. To the extent that these preferences can be understood as what Agar refers to as “plausible…Read more
  •  31
    Animal Rights and Moral Philosophy - by Julian H. Franklin
    Philosophical Books 48 (2): 187-188. 2007.
    Review of Julian H. Franklin, Animal Rights and Moral Philosophy (Columbia, 2005)
  •  29
    Third-party intervention has been the focus of recent debate in self-defense theory. When is it permissible for third-parties to intervene on behalf of an innocent victim facing an unjustified attack or threat? In line with recent self-defense theory, if an attacker is morally responsible for their actions and does not have an acceptable excuse then it is permissible for third-parties to use proportionate violence against them.
  •  35
    This book presents a theory of habitat rights for wild animals, positioning animal property rights within the existing institution of property and discussing the practical implications of giving property rights to animals.