ABSTRACT
In order to better understand the phenomena described in the preceding chapters it is necessary to examine, going at least as far back as the Renaissance, the changes, in European societies, in both representations of animals and people’s emotional reactions to animals. Once again, rather than attempting to relate this story in all its complexity, we should identify a number of general trends which will form the basis for our analysis of the motives underlying the development of mobilizations in favor of the protection of animals. Within the framework of the civilizing process, which we have placed at the heart of our analysis, animality is often set up in opposition to civilized humanity. For Erasmus, for example, there could be no doubt that “differentiation from animals is the very essence of good table manners” (Thomas, 1985, p. 44). As a general rule, the bodily impulses frowned upon in well-mannered society were regarded as spontaneous uncontrolled animal impulses. Indeed, the pejorative notion of bestiality gradually imposed itself as a yardstick used to stigmatize any human behavior which resembled animal behavior either because of its aggressiveness, or its absence of modesty, or, last but not least, its expression of sexual desire. These developments represented not only a modification in the monitoring of manners, but also a significant transformation of human relations with animals.
