Animal Sensibility and Inclusive Justice in the Age of Bernard Shaw

A fascinating depiction of the animal rights movement in the lateVictorian era.

Focusing on the ideas of Bernard Shaw, Rod Preece examines modernist views of animal rights in the context of late Victorian socialism.

In the late nineteenth century, a number of prominent reformers wereinfluenced by what Edward Carpenter called “the largersocialism,” a philosophy that promised to completely transformsociety, including the place of animals within it. 

To open a window on late Victorian ideas about animals, Rod Preeceexplores what he calls radical idealism and animal sensibility in thework of George Bernard Shaw, the acknowledged prophet of modernism andconscience of his age. Preece examines Shaw’s reformist thought-- particularly the notion of inclusive justice, which aimed toeliminate the suffering of both humans and animals -- in relation tothat of fellow reformers such as Edward Carpenter, Annie Besant, andHenry Salt and the Humanitarian League.

This fascinating account of the characters and crusades that shapedShaw’s philosophy sheds new light not only on modernist thoughtbut also on an overlooked aspect of the history of the animal rightsmovement.