Miejsce relacji i relacyjności w teoriach wspólnoty międzygatunkowej
The Role of Relations and Relationality in Theories of Interspecies Community

Author(s): Gabriela Jarzębowska
Subject(s): Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: relationships; relationality; interspecies community; relational ethics; politics; animal rights
Summary/Abstract: This chapter examines the role of relations and relationality in theories of interspecies community. It focuses on approaches situated within relational animal ethics and the so-called political turn in animal studies. I map the key positions that seek to define the foundations of an expanded community including both humans and nonhumans, with particular attention to the tension between relationality and politicality, as well as their links to animal rights and interspecies justice. While often invoked together, these concepts can also diverge, shaping contrasting visions of community. I discuss feminist care ethics, environmental relational ethics, and contextual ethics (Clare Palmer) alongside political theories such as Martha Nussbaum’s capabilities approach and, centrally, Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka’s 'Zoopolis'. I argue that the originality of 'Zoopolis' lies less in its novelty than in its synthesis of earlier currents, its precision in differentiating types of interspecies relations, and its explicit embedding in political theory. Comparing relational and political frameworks reveals unresolved tensions: between rights and responsibility, particularity and universality, and individual versus systemic relations. Ultimately, the chapter highlights the stakes of defining whether interspecies community should rest on relational proximity and dependence, or on universal principles of justice that bracket relational differences.

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