Pregledni rad
Philosophical-ethical approach to animals throughout history
Petar Džaja
; Veterinarski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Jozo Grbavac
Magdalena Palić
; Veterinarski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Mario Benić
Petar Tomšić
Krešimir Severin
; Veterinarski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
n this paper, we have described the thoughts of some philosophers and ethicists of Western civilization because Eastern civilization has had a completely different approach to animals since ancient times. The approach to animals throughout history has been different, not only among ordinary people, at different time periods, and within religious beliefs, but also among philosophers who have often viewed the same thing differently. The main disagreement in points of view towards animals depends on whether animals are considered to be sentient beings or not. In Jewish tradition, animal life is also valuable because they are also a work of God, therefore it is not permissible to endanger or unnecessarily take their lives. According to the Bible, God gave everything he created to man, while the prevailing opinion in the Islamic world is that compassion for animals can take homo religiosus to Paradise, and carelessness and abuse to Hell. Ancient Greek philosophers also had a different view on this issue. Some believed that animals should not be sacrificed and eaten (Empedocles, Pythagoras, Theophrastus, Plutarch, and Porphyry, etc.), while others had the opposite view, i.e., they were not vegetarians and considered that animal meat may be consumed (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc.). According to Kant, animals lack a moral status, which is why they are excluded from the moral community, and according to Decartes, animals cannot feel pain, which is a justification of cruelty towards them. Singer and Bentham believe that it does not matter whether animals are sentient and can speak or not, the most basic criterion by which they should be viewed is whether they can suffer or not. Singer explains that animals feel pain and that human and non-human beings are equal in relation to the Principle of the Equal Consideration of Interests. Speciesists believe that the pain felt by a non-human being is less valuable than the pain that a human being can feel. Aurelius Augustine and Thomas Aquinas believe that the lack of reason in animals justifies their subordinate role. Schopenhauer rejects reason and self-awareness as a necessity for the assumption of the moral status of beings and builds the principles of the moral treatment of animals around the ethics of compassion. Ethical philosophers have often debated whether animals are in the same moral community as humans. In recent times, the main advocates of
animal rights are Singer, Regan, Duney, and others, while in contrast some maintain that animals have no rights, at least when it comes to their use for scientific purposes (Cohen, Raymond, Frey, and Calliocott).
Ključne riječi
philosophers; animals; approach; history
Hrčak ID:
295155
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.3.2022.
Posjeta: 531 *