ABSTRACT
Since ancient times philosophers have asked questions about how human beings differ from other animals. Vegetarianism on moral grounds is not a new phenomenon: some Ancient Greeks refused to eat meat. Nevertheless, for several thousand years, the dominant view has been that animals are there for humans to do with as we see fit – and that includes killing them to eat, making clothes and shoes out of their skins, using them in scientific and commercial research, and even in entertainment such as in recreational fishing, some forms of hunting, circuses and bullfighting. However, since the late twentieth century there has been a significant philosophical interest in questions about animal experience, and how we should treat non-humans. Questions of animal welfare are increasingly seen as pressing moral issues, not simply practical questions about farming or scientific methodology.
