Animal Ethics Forum: Anne Vallely, University of Ottawa

Anne Vallely, Associate Professor, Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa
Topic: The Ambivalent Animal: Compassion, Passion, & the Good Death in Jainism

Abstract: Animals, and the non-human more generally, are at the centre of Jain ethics, ascetic practice, cosmology, mythology, devotional structures, conceptions of the ideal life, and the ideal death. Jainism is renowned for its ascetic ideal and ethic of absolute non-violence. Its concept of non-violence extends far beyond the human community to include all living beings, and censures not only physical violence but also harmful speech, and injurious thoughts to all life forms. The animal plays a central, if conflicting, role in this worldview.  As objects of compassion and non-violent care, non-humans  are the central focus of much of Jain ethical discourse and practice. Yet as embodiments of passion, violence, and the absence of discipline, they also serve as powerful foils against which the Jain ideal establishes itself.