Abstract:

Philosophy, as Aristotle said, originates in wonder. And nonhuman
animals have long been a source of wonder to humans,
especially in regard to the treatment they deserve. The upshot is
that Western philosophy has been concerned with the way in
which we ought to treat nonhuman animals since its origins with
the pre-Socratic philosophers.
Animal ethics is a highly challenging field, as well as one of the
liveliest areas of debate in ethics in recent years. Not only has this
area issued in a range of attention-grabbing controversies, but it
has also led to the exploration o f novel and imaginative
approaches to worn-out issues.
This book is roughly evenly divided between the presentation
and discussion of a range of influential past approaches to
animal ethics, and an equally significant range of contemporary
approaches. We need to understand the legacy of the past and
the resources that it offers us while also forging new views that
are appropriate to our increasingly developed understanding of
the nature of nonhuman animals.

Publisher's Version