William Kymlicka is a Canadian political philosopher best known for his work on multiculturalism and animal ethics.
13 Facts About Will Kymlicka
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Will Kymlicka is currently Professor of Philosophy and Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen's University at Kingston, and Recurrent Visiting Professor in the Nationalism Studies program at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
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Will Kymlicka has written extensively on multiculturalism and political philosophy, and several of his books have been translated into other languages.
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Will Kymlicka argues that such minority groups deserve unique rights from the state by the nature of their unique role and history within the national population.
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Will Kymlicka makes various exceptions such as the problems faced by refugees, whether from conflict or poverty, and by such minority groups such as African-Americans and argues that their needs with regards to cultural group-specific rights should be considered on a special basis.
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In Multicultural Citizenship, Will Kymlicka argues that group-specific rights are consistent with liberalism, and are particularly appropriate, if not outright demanded, in certain situations.
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Will Kymlicka defines three such group-specific rights: special group representation rights ; self-government rights; and polyethnic rights.
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Brian Barry argues that Will Kymlicka's views are not liberal at all, in the sense that they are not universalist in nature and that they allow for cultural relativism.
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Barry further accuses Will Kymlicka of posing a false choice between liberalism as autonomy and liberalism as tolerance, further asserting that claims for cultural rights and for equality of treatment are incompatible.
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The book Zoopolis, by Sue Donaldson and co-authored with Will Kymlicka, explores the state of animal rights for different categories of animals.
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Donaldson and Will Kymlicka believe that abolitionism is an inadequate response to both the ethical and practical challenges of living fairly and constructively with other animals.
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Donaldson and Will Kymlicka suggest that animals should be characterized through three categories, serving to determine the nature of the laws and politics that should protect those animals.
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Donaldson and Will Kymlicka defend the end of their use, advocating for a vegan position, but they reject extinctionism with regards to those animals that are currently breed by humans.