Jessica Pierce is a bioethicist and author of numerous books.
Latest by this author
A thought experiment tells us a lot about man’s best friend—and ourselves.
More about this author
Bioethicist and writer Jessica Pierce, PhD, is the author of Run, Spot, Run: The Ethics of Keeping Pets (University of Chicago Press, 2016) and The Last Walk: Reflections on Our Pets at the Ends of Their Lives (University of Chicago Press, 2012).
Additional authored and co-authored books include Unleashing Your Dog: A Field Guide to Giving Your Canine Companion the Best Life Possible (New World Library, 2019, with Marc Bekoff), The Animal's Agenda: Compassion and Coexistence in the Age of Humans (Beacon Press, 2017, with Marc Bekoff), Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals (University of Chicago Press, 2009, with Mark Bekoff), Contemporary Bioethics: A Reader with Cases (Oxford University Press, 2009, with George Randels); The Ethics of Environmentally Responsible Health Care (Oxford University Press, 2003, with Andrew Jameton); and Morality Play: Case Studies in Ethics (Waveland Press, 2014).
Some of the questions Pierce explores in her writings on death and dying in animals are: Do animals have death awareness? Why is euthanasia almost always considered the compassionate end point for our animals, but not for our human companions? Is there ever a good reason to euthanize a healthy dog? Why do people often grieve more deeply for their pets than they do for people?External
The Case Against Pets
Time | June | 2024
The unpleasant truth is that pet keeping often causes significant harm to animals. Pierce envisages a revolution in human-animal ties.
Psychology Today | August | 2023
A study suggests a concerning disconnect between the stated objectives of animal welfare studies and their actual focus. Although labeled “animal welfare science,” research may be directed at increased productivity, compliance with welfare regulations, appealing to customers who want “humane” meat, and, above all, increased profitability.
Psychology Today | August | 2023
The practice of purchasing live animals to keep as pets has become prevalent worldwide, with millions of households acquiring animals each year for the purposes of companionship or entertainment. Although pet keeping is generally assumed to be a benign activity that simply adds happiness to the world, there are darker sides to the practice.
Their Last Walk at the End of Their Lives
Co-authors: Marc Bekoff | Psychology Times | September | 2012
Marc Bekoff reviews Jessica Pierce’s The Last Walk: Reflections on Our Pets at the End of Their Lives.
Publications by this author
Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World Without Humans
Princeton University Press | October | 2021
What would happen to dogs if humans simply disappeared? Would dogs be able to survive on their own without us? A Dog’s World imagines a posthuman future for dogs, revealing how dogs would survive—and possibly even thrive—and explaining how this new and revolutionary perspective can guide how we interact with dogs now.
Drawing on biology, ecology, and the latest findings on the lives and behavior of dogs and their wild relatives, Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff—two of today’s most innovative thinkers about dogs—explore who dogs might become without direct human intervention into breeding, arranged playdates at the dog park, regular feedings, and veterinary care. Pierce and Bekoff show how dogs are quick learners who are highly adaptable and opportunistic, and they offer compelling evidence that dogs already do survive on their own—and could do so in a world without us.
A Field Guide to Giving Your Canine Companion the Best Life Possible
Co-authors: Marc Bekoff | New World Library | March | 2019
No matter how cushy their lives, dogs live on our terms. They compromise their freedom and instinctual pleasure, as well as their innate strategies for coping with stress and anxiety, in exchange for the love, comfort, and care they get from us. But it is possible to let dogs be dogs without wreaking havoc on our lives, as biologist Marc Bekoff and bioethicist Jessica Pierce show in this fascinating book. They begin by illuminating the true nature of dogs and helping us “walk in their paws.” They reveal what smell, taste, touch, sight, and hearing mean to dogs and then guide readers through everyday ways of enhancing dogs’ freedom in safe, mutually happy ways. The rewards, they show, are great for dog and human alike.
The Ethics of Keeping Pets
University of Chicago Press | May | 2016
A life shared with pets brings many emotions. We feel love for our companions, certainly, and happiness at the thought that we’re providing them with a safe, healthy life. But there’s another emotion, less often acknowledged, that can be nearly as powerful: guilt. Is keeping pets actually good for the pets themselves?
A lover of pets herself, Pierce understands the joys that pets bring us. But she also refuses to deny the ambiguous ethics at the heart of the relationship, and through a mix of personal stories, philosophical reflections, and scientifically informed analyses of animal behavior and natural history, she puts pet-keeping to the test. Is it ethical to keep pets at all? Are some species more suited to the relationship than others? Are there species one should never attempt to own? And are there ways that we can improve our pets’ lives, so that we can be confident that we are giving them as much as they give us?
Deeply empathetic, yet rigorous and unflinching in her thinking, Pierce has written a book that is sure to help any pet owner, unsettling assumptions but also giving them the knowledge to build deeper, better relationships with the animals with whom they’ve chosen to share their lives.Reflections on Our Pets at the End of Their Lives
University of Chicago Press | September | 2012
From the moment when we first open our homes—and our hearts—to a new pet, we know that one day we will have to watch this beloved animal age and die. The pain of that eventual separation is the cruel corollary to the love we share with them, and most of us deal with it by simply ignoring its inevitability.
With The Last Walk, Jessica Pierce makes a forceful case that our pets, and the love we bear them, deserve better. Drawing on the moving story of the last year of the life of her own treasured dog, Ody, she presents an in-depth exploration of the practical, medical, and moral issues that trouble pet owners confronted with the decline and death of their companion animals. Pierce combines heart-wrenching personal stories, interviews, and scientific research to consider a wide range of questions about animal aging, end-of-life care, and death. She tackles such vexing questions as whether animals are aware of death, whether they’re feeling pain, and if and when euthanasia is appropriate. Given what we know and can learn, how should we best honor the lives of our pets, both while they live and after they have left us?
Media by this author
Interview | March | 2024
Dogwise podcast interviews Jessica Pierce about how to be a better human for our dog companions.
Interview | May | 2024
In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by bioethicist Dr. Jessica Pierce to talk about her new book, Who's a Good Dog?: And How to Be a Better Human. They discuss the complex ethics of dog-human relationships, including topics like animal welfare, canine enrichment, and end-of-life care.
Interview | March | 2021
Jessica Pierce's her work focuses on human-animal relationships & interconnections between ecosystems & health. Her “All dogs go to heaven” blog at Psychology Today is here. In these Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is “evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.”
Interview | March | 2019
In this episode, Ricardo Lopes talks to Dr Jessica Pierce about animal ethics. First, we focus on the biological bases of morality and their importance to animal ethics, and some aspects of animal psychology that might be particularly relevant to the discussion, like consciousness and empathy. In the second part of the interview, they talk about specific topics, like animal research and testing in science, animal conservation in zoos and aquaria, and the food industry and veganism.
