Tatjana Višak

Tatjana Višak (born 12 December 1974), often credited as Tatjana Visak, is a German philosopher specialising in ethics and political philosophy who is currently based in the Department of Philosophy and Economics at the University of Bayreuth. She is the author of Killing Happy Animals (2013, Palgrave Macmillan) and the editor, with the political theorist Robert Garner, of The Ethics of Killing Animals (2016, Oxford University Press), an edited collection. She is known for arguing that utilitarians should not accept that nonhuman animals can be replaced by other, equally happy, beings, meaning that utilitarians can oppose the routine killing of animals in agriculture.

Tatjana Višak
Višak in 2015
Born (1974-12-12) 12 December 1974
Gießen, West Germany
NationalityGerman
Other namesTatjana Visak
OccupationPhilosopher
Years active2000–present

Career

Višak was born on 12 December 1974 in Gießen, West Germany. She was educated at the Theo-Koch Schule in Grünberg, and then the Institut Parisien, France, where she studied the French language and Philosophy and Art. She next studied at Leiden University in the Netherlands, graduating in 2000 with a MSc in Political Sciences (having focussed on political philosophy). She went on to work as a junior researcher/lecturer in the Ethics Institute at Utrecht University (spending some time as a researcher in the Ethics Department of the Erasmus Medical Center at Erasmus University) from 2000 to 2010.[1] She read for a doctorate at Utrecht University, where she was supervised by Marcus Duwell and Marcellinus Verweij. Her PhD thesis was entitled Killing Happy Animals: Explorations in Utilitarian Ethics, and was submitted in 2011.[2] This formed the basis of her 2013 monograph Killing Happy Animals: Explorations in Utilitarian Ethics, published with Palgrave Macmillan as part of The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series, edited by the theologian Andrew Linzey and the philosopher Priscilla Cohn and published in conjunction with the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.[3] The philosopher and animal studies scholar Anna Peterson, reviewing the book for the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, characterised Killing Happy Animals as "carefully argued, well-organized, and clearly written", but somewhat repetitive. Though she considered it worth reading, she felt that the book's scope was limited by Višak's focus on utilitarianism.[4]

After completing her PhD, Višak lectured in the Institute for Philosophy at Leiden University for a year, and became temporarily affiliated with the International School of Philosophy in the Netherlands. From 2011 to 2012, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Utrecht University's Ethics Institute, and then, from 2012 to 2013, she worked as a lecturer at the Monash University Centre for Human Bioethics. From 2013 to 2015, she was a research fellow at Saarland University, working with the philosophers Christoph Fehige and Ulla Wessels in Practical Philosophy. In 2013, she took up a research fellowship at the Department of Philosophy and Business Ethics at the University of Mannheim, working with Bernward Gesang.[1] In 2016, The Ethics of Killing Animals, a book coedited by Višak and the political theorist Robert Garner, was published by Oxford University Press. The book contains essays from a variety of philosophers and other academics (including contributions from the editors) on the axiological, moral and political issues surrounding the killing of nonhuman animals, with an afterword by Peter Singer.[5] Reviewing The Ethics of Killing Animals in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, the philosopher Jeff Sebo said he could "highly recommend this book for research as well as teaching", calling it "essential for people working on animal ethics".[6] In 2018, Višak moved from Mannheim to the Department of International Political Theory and Philosophy at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, before moving to the Department of Philosophy and Economics at the University of Bayreuth.[1]

Research

Višak is known for her exploration of the ethics of killing nonhuman animals who have lived happy lives, and specifically her rejection of the idea that it is acceptable to kill animals for agricultural purposes provided they have pleasant lives. She challenges Peter Singer's idea that nonhuman animals are "replaceable", meaning that it is acceptable to kill nonhuman animals provided an equally happy animal is created to take their place.[7] In her book Killing Happy Animals, Višak explores this and the related "logic of the larder"—the idea that farming nonhuman animals benefits them, as they would not exist otherwise—from within utilitarianism. She suggests that the replaceability argument is based on Total View Utilitarianism, which entails that the utility of both actual and potential beings (the latter being individuals whose existence or non-existence depends upon the actions of others now). Instead, Višak suggests, utilitarians should adopt a Prior Existence View, entailing that only the utility of actual beings is taken into account in the judgement of the rightness or wrongness of an action. She rejects the logic of the larder by arguing that beings are not made better off by being brought into existence. Ultimately, then, utilitarianism is not restricted to the avoidance of suffering, and contains the tools to censure the routine killing of nonhuman animals, even in "animal friendly" agriculture.[4]

Personal life

Višak is married with two children, who were born in 2004 and 2006. She is a native speaker of German and a German citizen, and is also fluent in English and Dutch, with conversational French.[1]

Selected bibliography

Books

Journal articles

  • Višak T (2015). "Sacrifices of Self are Prudential Harms: A Reply to Carbonell". The Journal of Ethics. 9 (2): 219–229. doi:10.1007/s10892-015-9196-3.
  • Višak T., Balcombe J. (2013). "The Applicability of the Self-fulfillment Account of Welfare to Nonhuman Animals, Babies, and Mentally Disabled Humans". Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly. 31 (2): 27–34. doi:10.13021/pppq.v31i2.212.
  • Višak T (2013). "Probleme bezüglich Implikationen und Fundierung, und ein Verbesserungsvorschlag – Kommentar" ["Comment on Wessel's Happiness-Desire Ethics: Problems Regarding Its Implications and Foundations and a Suggestion for Improvement"]". Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung. 67 (2): 306–11. doi:10.3196/004433013806915724.
  • Leuven J., Višak T. (2013). "Ryder's Painism and His Criticism of Utilitarianism". Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 26 (2): 409–19. doi:10.1007/s10806-012-9381-3.
  • Meijboom F.L.B., Višak T., Brom F.W.A. (2006). "From Trust to Trustworthiness: Why Information is not Enough in the Food Sector". Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 19 (5): 427–442. doi:10.1007/s10806-006-9000-2.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Kranenburg L.W., Višak T., Weimar W., Zuidema W., de Klerk M., Hilhorst M., Passchier J., Ijzermans J.N., Busschbach J.J. (2004). "Starting a Crossover Kidney Transplantation Program in the Netherlands: Ethical and Psychological Considerations". Transplantation. 78 (2): 194–7. doi:10.1097/01.tp.0000129259.02340.f7. PMID 15280677.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Book chapters

  • Višak, T. (forthcoming 2017). "Das Töten von Tieren" ["Killing Animals"], in J.S. Ach and D. Borchers (eds.), Handbuch Tierethik. Stuttgart: Metzler Verlag.
  • Višak, T. (forthcoming 2017). "Cross-Species Comparisons of Welfare", in A. Woodhall and G. Garmendia de Trindade (eds.), Ethical and Political Approaches to Non-Human Animal Issues: Towards an Undivided Future. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Višak, T. (forthcoming 2016). "La Valeur de la Vie: des Comparassions à Travers des Espèces" ["The Value of Life: Comparisons Across Species Boundaries"], in E. Dardenne, V. Giroux, and E. Utria (eds.), Libération Animale, 40 Ans Plus Tard. Rennes: Rennes University Press.
  • Višak, T. and R. Garner (2016). "Introduction", in T. Višak and R. Garner (eds.), The Ethics of Killing Animals. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Višak, T. (2016). "Do Utilitarians Need to Accept the Replaceability Argument?", in T. Višak and R. Garner (eds.), The Ethics of Killing Animals. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Višak, T. (2016). "Lebensqualität als Selbstverwirklichung" ["Quality of Life as Self-fulfillment"], in R. Kipke, L. Kovács and R. Lutz (eds.), Lebensqualität in der Medizin. Berlin: Springer.
  • Višak, T. (2015). "Improving Welfare: a Context-Based Approach", in G. Graf and G. Schweiger (eds.), Well-being of Children. Berlin: De Gruyter.
  • Višak, T. (2015). "Environmental Ethics", in N. Vedwan (ed.) An Integrated Approach to Environmental Management. New York: Wiley.
  • Višak, T. (2012). "Daniel Haybron's Theory of Welfare and its Implications for Animal Welfare Assessment", in T. Potthast (ed.), Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Ethical Perspectives on Land Use and Food Production. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
  • Višak, T. (2010). "Do Animals Count for Less?", in C.M. Romeo Casabona, L. Escajedo and A. Emaldi (eds.), Global Food Security: Ethical and Legal Challenges. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
  • Višak, T. (2009). "Can Killing be Justified? A Dismissal of the Replaceability Argument", in K. Millar, P. Hobson West, and B. Nerlich (eds.), Ethical Futures: Bioscience and Food Horizons. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
  • Brom, F.W.A, T. Višak and F. Meijboom (2007). "Food, Citizens and Market. The Quest for Responsible Consuming", in L. Frewer, and H. Van Trijp (eds.), Understanding Consumers of Food Products. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Limited.
  • Višak, T. (2006). "How Animal-friendly Should Our Agricultural Practice Become?", in M. Kaiser and M.E. Lien (eds.), Ethics and the Politics of Food. Wageningen: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
  • Brom, F.W.A, T. Višak and F. Meijboom (2005). "Food, Citizens and Market. The Quest for Responsible Consuming", in T. Pothast, C. Baumgartner, and E.-M. en Engels (eds.), Die Richtigen Masse Für die Nahrung. Biotechnologie, Landwirtschaft und Lebensmittel in Ethischer Perspektive. Basel: Francke Verlag.
  • Višak, T. (2003). "The Moral Relevance of Naturalness", in W.B. Drees (ed.), Is Nature Ever Evil? Religion, Science and Value. London: Routledge.
  • Višak, T. (2003). "The Normative Relevance of Disputes in Primatology", in W.B. Drees (ed.), Is Nature Ever Evil? Religion, Science and Value. London: Routledge.

References
  1. Višak, Tatjana (27 April 2019). "CV". Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  2. "Killing happy animals : Explorations in utilitarian ethics". Utrecht University Repository. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  3. Višak, Tatjana (2013). Killing Happy Animals: Explorations in Utilitarian Ethics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  4. Peterson, Anna (2014). "Review of Tatjana Višak, Killing Happy Animals: Explorations in Utilitarian Ethics". Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 27 (3): 523–525. doi:10.1007/s10806-014-9496-9.
  5. Višak, Tatjana and Robert Garner, eds., (2016) The Ethics of Killing Animals. New York: Oxford University Press.
  6. Sebo, Jeff (2016). "Tatjana Višak and Robert Garner (eds.) The Ethics of Killing Animals". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  7. Bekoff, Marc (22 April 2013). "Should We Kill Happy Animals?". Psychology Today. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
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