Valéry Giroux | |
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 Giroux in 2018 | |
| Born | (1974-03-24)24 March 1974 (age 51) |
| Education | Université de Montréal (LL.B., 1997;LL.M., 2003,Ph.D., 2012)[2] |
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| Website | valerygiroux |
Valéry Giroux (born 24 March 1974) is a Canadian philosopher, lawyer andanimal rights activist fromQuebec. She is an adjunct professor at theUniversité de Montréal Faculty of Law, associate director for the Centre de recherche en éthique ("Ethics Research Center"), a Fellow of theOxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and an author and speaker onanimal ethics issues andveganism, with a notable focus on the topic ofantispeciesism through her co-editorship of the antispeciesist journalL'Amorce. Her philosophy defends equal moral consideration for allsentient beings, rejects the view that human use of non-human animals is morally permissible, and advocates an individual right to freedom for all sentient beings, regardless of species, with a focus on negative or republican freedom rather than positive freedom.
After obtaining a bachelor's degree in law from theUniversité de Montréal (UdeM) in 1997, Giroux became a member of theBar of Quebec in 2001.[3] From an interest in issues surroundinganimal rights, she studied for a master's degree in law at UdeM, with a thesis on a project to reform thecruelty to animals offences of the CanadianCriminal Code.[4] She then undertook doctoral studies in philosophy at the UdeM and devoted her doctoral thesis, which was supervised byChristine Tappolet, to the extension of the most fundamental human rights to allsentient beings; the thesis, the first in Quebec inanimal ethics, was published in book form byÉditions L'Âge d'Homme in 2017.[5]
Giroux is an adjunct professor at theUniversité de Montréal Faculty of Law. She is also associate director for the Centre de recherche en éthique ("Ethics Research Center") and a Fellow of theOxford Centre for Animal Ethics.[6] She is the author of the bookContre l'exploitation animale ("Against Animal Exploitation")[7] and the co-author, withRenan Larue, of the bookLe Véganisme ("Veganism") in thePUF editorial collection "Que sais-je?" ("What do I know?)[8] and a book in the same collection,L'antispécisme ("Antispeciesism").[9] Giroux is regularly invited to speak to the media on issues relating to animal ethics.[4] She is co-editor of the French-language journalL'Amorce ("The Primer") which focuses onantispeciesism.[10]
Giroux's philosophy is antispeciesist, in that she argues against discriminating against sentient beings because they lack human species membership. She furthermore asserts that cognitive capacity, or lack thereof, has no moral relevance, stating "[y]ou can't use these characteristics to place more or less value on individuals; the proof is that we do not grant more fundamental rights to the most intelligent human beings."[11]
Giroux is opposed to welfarism, the idea that it is ethically permissible for humans to use non-human animals, considering herself to be anabolitionist when it comes to animal rights.[12] She opposesAlasdair Cochrane's position on the right to freedom of non-human animals, for whom animals have only an interest in being free when the absence of freedom is the cause of suffering for them. Conversely, Giroux maintains that the interest in being free from all sentient agents (human or nonhuman) is of the same nature. This is at least the case, according to her, as soon as one abandons the concept of positive freedom (being the ultimate master of one's will and actions) in favor of that of negative freedom (not being subjected to external constraints) or of republican freedom (not to be subjected to domination). And this interest to be free, she argues, must be protected by the individual right to freedom for all sentient beings, whether they belong to humanity or not.[13]
In 2018, Giroux received the 1st Prize for the Research Professionals Excellence award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC).[14]
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