Dr Richard Ryder

Richard D Ryder - British psychologist and philosopher, invented the concept of speciesism in Oxford in 1970 while co-initiating the modern animal rights movement. In 1971 Ryder contributed to the ground-breaking Animals Men and Morals (ed. Godlovitch and Harris) and, in the following year, he joined the Council of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) – the world’s largest and oldest animal welfare organisation- leading the long campaign to rid that body of reactionary and pro-hunting elements, and first becoming its controversial and modernising Chairman in 1977. Ryder organized successful private campaigns for the introduction of Dog Wardens and to stop the hunting of otters in Britain and, in 1975 published his first book Victims of Science - an attack on animal experimentation- which was hailed as “a morally and historically important book”. It had a considerable impact upon Parliament and led eventually to new European and British legislation to protect laboratory animals in 1986.

Ryder toured Europe, America and Australia in the 1980s, and frequently appeared on television, assisting in the campaigns to protect whales, seals, elephants and farm animals, and to ban the use of animals in the testing of cosmetics. He has a MA in Experimental Psychology and a Ph D in Political and Social Sciences from Cambridge University. He became President of the Liberal Democrats Animal Welfare Group, twice ran for Parliament and, with Lord Houghton and others, successfully campaigned to persuade the main British political parties to accept animal protection as a serious political issue. He also founded Eurogroup - the principal coordinating and lobbying organisation for animals in the European community.

After collaborating with Brian Davis (the founder of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)) Ryder became the Director of the Political Animal Lobby (PAL) – an IFAW subsidiary- which funded animal welfare researchers for the political leaders, initiated approaches to the UN and WTO and made large donations to the three main parties in Britain, leading on eventually to the highly controversial banning of hunting with hounds in 2004 and the new general law to protect animals in 2006.

Throughout the 1990’s, and especially when Mellon Professor of Tulane University, Ryder developed and refined his theory of Painism – an ethical theory that rejects the validity of the aggregation (i.e. the adding up) of the pains and pleasures of several individuals, as found in Utilitarianism, emphasizing instead the moral importance of each individual and especially of the “maximum sufferer”.

Ryder has also worked for various human charities and writes about trees and psychobiography.

Link to the Wikipedia article on Richard D Ryder


Richard D Ryder
Richard D Ryder - British psychologist and philosopher, invented the concept of speciesism in Oxford in 1970 while co-initiating the modern animal rights movement. In 1971 Ryder contributed to the ground-breaking Animals Men and Morals (ed. Godlovitch and Harris) and, in the following year, he joined the Council of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) – the world’s largest and oldest animal welfare organisation- leading the long campaign to rid that body of reactionary and pro-hunting elements, and first becoming its controversial and modernising Chairman in 1977. Ryder organized successful private campaigns for the introduction of Dog Wardens and to stop the hunting of otters in Britain and, in 1975 published his first book Victims of Science - an attack on animal experimentation- which was hailed as “a morally and historically important book”. It had a considerable impact upon Parliament and led eventually to new European and British legislation to protect laboratory animals in 1986. Ryder toured Europe, America and Australia in the 1980s, and frequently appeared on television, assisting in the campaigns to protect whales, seals, elephants and farm animals, and to ban the use of animals in the testing of cosmetics. He has a MA in Experimental Psychology and a Ph D in Political and Social Sciences from Cambridge University. He became President of the Liberal Democrats Animal Welfare Group, twice ran for Parliament and, with Lord Houghton and others, successfully campaigned to persuade the main British political parties to accept animal protection as a serious political issue. He also founded Eurogroup - the principal coordinating and lobbying organisation for animals in the European community. After collaborating with Brian Davis (the founder of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)) Ryder became the Director of the Political Animal Lobby (PAL) – an IFAW subsidiary- which funded animal welfare researchers for the political leaders, initiated approaches to the UN and WTO and made large donations to the three main parties in Britain, leading on eventually to the highly controversial banning of hunting with hounds in 2004 and the new general law to protect animals in 2006. Throughout the 1990’s, and especially when Mellon Professor of Tulane University, Ryder developed and refined his theory of Painism – an ethical theory that rejects the validity of the aggregation (i.e. the adding up) of the pains and pleasures of several individuals, as found in Utilitarianism, emphasizing instead the moral importance of each individual and especially of the “maximum sufferer”. Ryder has also worked for various human charities and writes about trees and psychobiography. Link to the Wikipedia article on Richard D Ryder
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