ABSTRACT
In modern societies, a central aspect of life tends to be the support for individual autonomy in the pursuit of happiness, even over social obligations. This may even contribute to subjective well-being, although its social value depends on the view of the observer. It is a strange relationship as: it goes together with a valuation and interpretation of animals that holds them most dear the more they seem to be like people, and/or simply considers them to be "good" in some way, but also tends toward ideological, not necessarily verisimilar views. The relationship gets even stranger, certainly when ideological positions come into play, since animals can at the same time be liked, considered to be alike us, and yet also be killed for the products they provide. Even spiritually, a sense of community/communion with nature is a recurrent theme of the relation of both human beings and the environment.
