Sue Donaldson (also known as Susan Cliffe; born 1962) is a Canadian writer and philosopher. She is a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

affiliated with the Department of Philosophy at Queen's University, where she is the co-founder of the Animals in Philosophy, Politics, Law and Ethics (APPLE) research cluster.

Biography

Donaldson was born in Ottawa in 1962, and has lived most of her life in Eastern Ontario. She currently lives in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...

with her husband,

Will Kymlicka William Kymlicka (; born 1962) is a Canadian political philosopher best known for his work on multiculturalism and animal ethics. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen's Universi ...

Writing

Donaldson is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

and a philosopher of

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

. She published a vegan cookbook, ''Foods That Don't Bite Back'', in 2003. She has also co-authored numerous articles in peer-reviewed

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

s on the topic of animal rights. In 2004, she published a

young adult novel Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

, ''Threads of Deceit'', under the name Susan Cliffe. This monograph is a historical fiction and

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

novel set in nineteenth century

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

. She published ''Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights'', co-written with

, in 2011. In this book, as well as their other co-authored work on

animal ethics Animal ethics is a branch of ethics which examines human-animal relationships, the moral consideration of animals and how nonhuman animals ought to be treated. The subject matter includes animal rights, animal welfare, animal law, speciesism, an ...

, Donaldson and Kymlicka argue for a group-differentiated political conception of animal rights. Drawing upon

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

theory, they argue that although all animals should be protected by the same fundamental rights, individual animals should have different rights (and different responsibilities) depending on their group membership. Animals who form a part of mixed human/animal society (''

domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...

'' animals) should be conceived of as ''citizens'', while animals who are reliant upon the mixed society without being a part of it (''liminal'' animals) should be conceived of as ''denizens''.

Wild animals Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted fo ...

, who live wholly or mostly separately from the mixed human/animal society, should be conceived of as ''sovereign'' over their own territory. Intervention to reduce

wild animal suffering Wild animal suffering is the suffering experienced by nonhuman animals living outside of direct human control, due to harms such as disease, injury, parasitism, starvation and malnutrition, dehydration, weather conditions, natural disasters, an ...

would accordingly be acceptable if compatible with respect for their

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

Awards

In 2013, she won the

Canadian Philosophical Association The Canadian Philosophical Association (CPA; french: Association canadienne de philosophie []) was founded in 1958 as a bilingual non-profit organization to promote philosophical scholarship and education across Canada, and to represent the inter ...

's Book Prize, with Will Kymlicka, for their book ''Zoopolis''.

Selected publications

*''Foods That Don't Bite Back: Vegan Cooking Made Simple''. Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2003. *''Thread of Deceit'' (as Susan Cliffe). Toronto: Sumach Press, 2004. *''Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rights'' (with Will Kymlicka). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. *''Chimpanzee Rights: The Philosophers' Brief'', Routledge, 2018.

References

External links

Sue Donaldson
at The Writers' Union of Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Sue 1962 births Living people Animal ethicists Canadian animal rights scholars Canadian food writers Canadian philosophers Canadian political philosophers Canadian veganism activists 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian women non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists Canadian writers of young adult literature Women writers of young adult literature 21st-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers Vegan cookbook writers Writers from Ottawa