- "Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals."
This subfield concerns moral considerations surrounding the use of animals in food production, including issues regarding animal welfare, animal rights, and the ethics of meat consumption.
Animal Rights: The concept of treating animals with respect and granting them basic rights, like the right to life and freedom from harm.
Animal Welfare: The principle of promoting the well-being of animals by ensuring that they are not subjected to unnecessary pain and suffering.
Factory Farming: The practice of raising livestock in large-scale industrial operations, with minimally regulated standards of animal welfare.
Meat Consumption: The ethical concerns that arise from consuming meat, including the welfare of the animals and the environmental impact of industrial agriculture.
Veganism: The philosophy of abstaining from the use of animal products and promoting animal welfare as an ethical principle.
Animal Testing: The use of animals in scientific research, including the ethical concerns surrounding experimentation procedures and animal welfare regulations.
Animal Rights Movement: The social movement that advocates for the recognition of animal rights and the abolition of practices that harm animals.
Biodiversity Conservation: The protection and preservation of biodiversity in animal species and their habitats.
Endangered Species: The ethical concerns surrounding the exploitation and endangerment of animal species, and the need for conservation efforts.
Environmental Ethics: The umbrella discipline examining the ethical and moral aspects of the human impact on the environment, which also includes the welfare of animals.
Sustainable Agriculture: The development of ecologically-friendly farming practices that promote animal welfare and conserve natural resources.
Animal Cruelty: The deliberate infliction of harm upon animals, often for human pleasure or profit, drawing ethical ramifications.
Animal Sacrifice: The act of killing animals for religious or cultural reasons, generating ethical and moral debates.
Genetic Engineering: The man-made alteration of the genetic code of animals for human benefit, creating ethical concerns around animal welfare.
Animal Extinction: The ethical considerations surrounding the loss of entire animal species, and humanity's role in their demise.
Social Justice: The ethical and moral implications of the intersection between animal ethics and social justice issues such as poverty, race, and inequality.
Animal Law: The legal framework that regulates the treatment of animals in agriculture, research, and entertainment practices.
Marine Ethics: The ethical and moral implications surrounding the exploitation of marine creatures, either through industrial fishing practices, captivity in aquariums or zoos, or marine pollution.
Pet Ownership: The ethical considerations surrounding the proper treatment of pets, from pet breeding to pet care and responsibility.
Ecocentrism: The philosophy that values the ecological community and the interdependence of all living beings within it, including animals.
Veganism: The belief that consuming and using animal products is an ethical issue, justifying the complete avoidance of them.
Vegetarianism: The belief that consuming animal flesh is an ethical issue, often leading to the avoidance of meat.
Animal Welfare: The principle of providing animals with acceptable living conditions, care, and treatment.
Animal Rights: The belief that animals have intrinsic value and should not be exploited.
Environmental Ethics: The principle of considering the impact of food production on the environment and ecosystems.
Ecological Agriculture: The principle of using agricultural methods that minimize harm to animals and the environment.
Ethical Omnivore: The belief that consuming animal products is not inherently wrong but should be done with consideration for animal welfare.
Labeling Ethics: The principle of providing transparent information on the treatment of animals in food production.
In Vitro Meat: The principle of using lab-grown meat as an ethical alternative to traditional meat.
Anti-GMO: The principle of avoiding genetically modified organisms in food production due to ethical concerns.
- "Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics."
- "Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity, disease, immunosuppression, behavior, physiology, and reproduction."
- "Respect for animal welfare is often based on the belief that nonhuman animals are sentient and that consideration should be given to their well-being or suffering."
- "These concerns can include how animals are slaughtered for food, how they are used in scientific research, how they are kept (as pets, in zoos, farms, circuses, etc.), and how human activities affect the welfare and survival of wild species."
- "There are two forms of criticism of the concept of animal welfare, coming from diametrically opposite positions."
- "One view... holds that humans have no duties of any kind to animals." "The other view is based on the animal rights position that animals should not be regarded as property and any use of animals by humans is unacceptable."
- "Some animal rights proponents argue that the perception of better animal welfare facilitates continued and increased exploitation of animals."
- "Some authorities therefore treat animal welfare and animal rights as two opposing positions."
- "The predominant view of modern neuroscientists, notwithstanding philosophical problems with the definition of consciousness even in humans, is that consciousness exists in nonhuman animals."
- "However, some still maintain that consciousness is a philosophical question that may never be scientifically resolved."
- "In this study conducted in rhesus monkeys, the researchers built experiments predicting completely opposite behavioral outcomes to consciously vs. non-consciously perceived stimuli."
- "Strikingly, the monkeys' behaviors displayed these exact opposite signatures, just like aware and unaware humans tested in the study."