Welfare History 1 Flashcards
History of Animal Welfare:
Greece:
- Horses:
- transportation, racing, warfare
- Oxen:
- tilling the land
- Sheep:
- wool, milk, cheese, meat
- Cattle, Goats:
- milk, cheese, meat
- Pigs:
- meat
- Dogs:
- guarding, warfare, companionship
- Animal slaughter for religious sacrifice
- Subjects of scientific research
History of Animal Welfare:
Greece:
Pythagoras (570-495 BC)
- Held strong views on the ethical treatment of animals
- ‘kinship’ determines objects of moral concern
- he viewed the killing of animals as cruelty
- The diet he and followers of his school of thought consumed was called the pythagorean diet before Vegetarianism was coined in the 1840s
History of animal welfare:
Greece:
Aristotle
- Maintained a collection of wild animals as reference material for is athens school
- Histroy of the animals contains information about zoology and animal husbandry
- allowing animals to stay cool in hot weather is important to maintain their appetite
- Over-feeding a sow during pregnancy can result in poor milk production during lactation
- Humans and animals share many characteristics, such as perception and emotion; however, humans alone have the capacity for logos or reason
- stoic school of thought:
- no community of belonging can exist between rational and non-rational beings
- stoic school of thought:
History of animal welfare:
Greece:
Epicurus
justice is a contract or agreement between different people to avoid causing harm to each other
Justice can’t be applied to animals because animals cannot reason and the ability to reason is needed to enter into a contract
History of Animal Welfare:
Greece:
Plutarch
The cleverness of animals essay provided anecdotes to argue animals use reason
nature has not equipped us to eat meat because we must cook it or we would be sick
Humans are not natural carnivores becuase human meat-eaters do not catch animals with their teeth and eat them alive
History of Animal Welfare:
Greece:
Prophyry (232-309 BC)
- on abstinence from killing animals
- Purity and self-discipline of a vegetarian diet is important for those who devote themselves to an intelectual life
- Animals are rational beings; killing them for the pleasure of the palate is unjust
- Animals deserve moral consideration because, like us, they have the capacity to feel distress, to be afraid, the be hurt, and therefore to be injured
History of Animal Welfare:
Britain:
1500-1600s
- brutality to humans was commonplace
- Criminals were hot-iron branded, hands were amputated for petty theft, severing ears for failure to attend church
- Cruelty to animals was an aspect of daily life
- William Hogarth, a british artist, produced a series of engravings illustrating the uses and abused of animals in the mid-1700s
History of Animal Welfare:
Britain:
English enlightenment 1700s
general awakening of feelings of pity, kindness and moral sense
Books began to be written on animal ethics, debates occurred regarding the proper treatment of animals
History of Animal Welfare:
Britain:
Reverend Thomas young
An essay of humanity to animals in 1798
In support of animal protection legislation based on christian virtues
Many of the points remain key elements of animal welfare reform today
History of Animal Welfare:
Britain:
First attempt at legal reform: Bull-baiting
- 1800: denied
- bull-baiting is a tradition which helps build character, provides amusement for the poor and laws should not interfere with the lives of people unless other people were harmed
- 1802: denied
- 1809: denied
- banning bull-baiting had huge public support
- 1822: Denied
- protection had been granted to horses and cattle
- Courts did not consider bulls to be cattle
- 1835: approved
- bull-baiting became illegal
History of animal welfare:
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
- French philosopher
- cogito ego sum - “I think, therefore I am”
- Humans have a unique capacity for rational thought whereas animals are machine-like entities acting without thought or feeling
- The exploitation of animals cannot be wrong
- you can’t harm something that does not posses thoughts, feelings or a sense of pain
History of animal welfare:
Immanual Kant (1724-1804)
- German philosopher
- Animals are not self-conscious and are a means to an end
- “our dutues towards animals are merely indirect duties towards humanity”
- Emphasized the difference between humans and animals
History of Animal Welfare:
Francois Magendie (1783-1855)
- Physiologist in france
- He carried out many of his experiments before anesthesia was developed
- his techniques drew crtiicism from the physiology community
- After the discovery of ether, he insisted on performing conscious vivesections for his experiments and to teach his students
- His experiments were cited in drafting the Cruel treatment of cattle act in 1822 in britain
History of animal welfare:
Dissecting theatres
In europe allowed the public to witness the dissection of an animal or human
Recognized humans and vertebrate animals had similar anatomic structures
1700s-1800s
History of Animal Welfare:
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
- English philosopher
- Good acts are those that promote the greatest amount of good and prevent the greatest amount of evil for the greatest number of those concerned
- The question isnot “can they reason? nor can they talk? but can they suffer”
