TakaFiyii
Abstract
A main purpose of this paper is to trace the roots of modem discussions about animal ethics. First, I sort out and survey major discussions about modern animal ethics. Next, I review the discussions about moral considerations for animals in eighteenth-century England which are probably thought of as templates of modern discussions about animal ethics. Additionally, I track back discussions in the seventeenth century, as a germ of discussions in eighteenth-century England, in the area of animal experiments, such as vivisection. Lastly, I speculate why these discussions in the seventeenth century spread out explosively in the following centuries in England.
Introduction
Today, animal abuse is regarded as evil, not only in Asian countries influenced by Buddhism, but also in most of the world. I use the term
"animal ethics" ' for such modern discussions about ethical consideration for animals. The origin of these discussions can be traced back to eighteenth century England. However, movements against animal vivisections may have geminated in seventeenth century France.
In this paper, after briefly surveying modern discussions on animal ethics, I will look at the discussions about ethical considerations for animals in eighteenth century England. Furthermore, I will go back to the background of the movements which may be the germ of those discussions in seventeenth century France. Finally, I will consider why seeds of French movements later flourished in England.
I . Modern Animal Ethics
This chapter is an overview of modern animal ethics. Phrases like "let s love animals!" are common in many animal ethics discussions. However, there are various opinions and motives. Each animal ethics discussion seems to have a wide variety of motives and objects of protection. Here,
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I will try to outline those confusions.
The mainstream positions exhibited in the care for animals are shown in the following (table 1-1.)
Table 1-1. Modern animal ethics 1. Animal protection
2. Animal welfare 3. Animal liberation 4. Animal rights 5. Biocentrism
6. Biotic Community, Ecology, Land Ethic
more anthropocentric
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