A Critique of Mario Vargas Llosa’s Putative Justifications of Bullfighting

David VILLENA

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

Abstract

The Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa praises the legal protection of bullfighting by a Peruvian law that prohibits the torture of animals except in the case of cultural traditions, such as bullfighting and cockfighting. He claims that his defense of bullfighting follows from his liberal point of view and advances three reasons in favor of its preservation: It is a tradition, it is a fine art, and the individuals should be constitutionally free to choose what to see and where to go. I argue that his arguments are morally irrelevant and logically unsound.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)31-41
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Animal Ethics
Volume11
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

I appreciate the comments on this article made by Alberto Cordero, Rafael De Clercq, Darrell P. Rowbottom, Andrea Sauchelli, and the editors of the Journal of Animal Ethics.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Funding

I would like to thank the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong for its support through the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS).

Keywords

  • animal law
  • animal rights
  • culture
  • aesthetics
  • civil liberties
  • animal cruelty
  • animals in sport and entertainment
  • bulls
  • Mario Vargas Llosa

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