Concepts of Animal Welfare in Relation to Positions in Animal Ethics
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Concepts of Animal Welfare in Relation to Positions in Animal Ethics Kirsten Schmidt
Received: 24 January 2011 / Accepted: 31 January 2011 / Published online: 11 February 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011
Abstract When animal ethicists deal with welfare they seem to face a dilemma: On the one hand, they recognize the necessity of welfare concepts for their ethical approaches. On the other hand, many animal ethicists do not want to be considered reformist welfarists. Moreover, animal welfare scientists may feel pressed by moral demands for a fundamental change in our attitude towards animals. The analysis of this conflict from the perspective of animal ethics shows that animal welfare science and animal ethics highly depend on each other. Welfare concepts are indispensable in the whole field of animal ethics. Evidence for this can be found by analyzing the structure of theories of animal ethics and the different ways in which these theories employ welfare concepts. Furthermore, the background of values underneath every welfare theory is essential to pursue animal welfare science. Animal ethics can make important contributions to the clarification of underlying normative assumptions with regard to the value of the animal, with regard to ideas about what is valuable for the animal, and with regard to the actions that should follow from the results of animal welfare science. Keywords Animal welfare Animal ethics Animal welfare science Moral reasoning Moral value
1 Introduction When animal ethicists deal with welfare they seem to face a dilemma: On the one hand, they recognize the necessity of welfare concepts for their ethical approaches. In fact, animal welfare is a central part of every theory of animal ethics. On the other hand, for reasons I will discuss below, many animal ethicists do not want to be K. Schmidt (&) Institut fu¨r Philosophie, Ruhr-Universita¨t Bochum, 44801 Bochum, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
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considered ‘‘welfarists’’, i.e. proponents of an animal welfare approach. At the same time, animal welfare has become an important scientific field of study, and animal welfare science has a significant practical influence, for instance on animal husbandry.1 Accordingly, animal welfare scientists may feel pressed by moral demands for a fundamental change in our attitude towards animals. The following analysis of this conflict from the perspective of animal ethics will show that animal welfare science and animal ethics nevertheless highly depend on each other. Moreover, both sides can benefit from the research of the other one. While scientists provide empirical findings that play an important part in the field of animal ethics, ethicists can contribute to transparency with regard to the normative aspects that are linked to every welfare theory. The first section takes a closer look at the tense relation between animal ethics and animal welfare science (1.1) and offers a possible explanation for the conflict (1.2). In the second section, I will argue for
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