Volume XII · The Essentials of Animal Ethics
Introduction
Before you read study layer, not part of the original text
Volume XII is a schematic guide to the other 11 volumes: each debate appears in tables of attempted justifications and criticisms, with an indication of where it is explored in depth.
This book is the map of the whole collection. It shows each discussion quickly and tells you which book to read for more.
It is like the annotated index of an encyclopedia: it does not replace the entries, but it shows where everything is.
- P1 Animal ethics discusses many questions, each with arguments on both sides.
- P2 A schematic overview lets us understand what is at stake before going deeper.
- P3 Each table indicates where the topic is discussed in detail.
- C So this volume serves both people who are just starting and people who want to review.
The chapter’s central argument in logical form. If the premises are true, the conclusion follows. To disagree, you have to show which premise is false.
Original text Luciano Carlos Cunha · Volume XII, p. 7 of the PDF edition · English translation
Animal ethics is the branch of ethics that deals with the morality of our decisions that affect nonhuman animals. In this material you will find a general, very introductory and schematic overview of the main questions under discussion in this field, from its emergence to the present day. Rather than focusing on specific authors, it presents a summary of the main arguments of the competing positions on each of the topics covered, which are discussed by a large number of authors. This makes it possible to get a broader idea of the various possible approaches in this field.
This Volume XII serves as a kind of “summary guide” to the main topics that were discussed in detail in the other 11 volumes of this collection. Since there are many topics, each of them is presented here in a very summarized way. In addition, of course, many other debates have been left out (however, the vast majority of them are discussed in the other volumes of this collection). If you wish to go deeper, you will find in the footnotes references to works that also discuss each topic. In addition, at the end of each schematic table discussing a given subject, an indication in parentheses shows where in the collection the subject is discussed in greater depth. For example:
| Attempt to justify the default position | Criticisms of the attempted justification |
|---|---|
| It is natural and/or traditional to disregard animals (I, ch. 8 and 9). | From the fact that a behavior is natural or traditional it does not follow that it is necessarily good, fair, desirable, or even acceptable. |
“(I, ch. 8 and 9)” indicates that the subject is discussed in depth in chapters 8 and 9 of Volume I of the collection. The link available on the numbers redirects to these specific places.
This volume is a good option for those who have never read about animal ethics and want to understand what is at stake in each of the debates before going deeper into the subject in the other volumes. It is also a good option for those who have already read all the other volumes of the collection and want a brief recap of the main discussions. Hence the title The Essentials of .
Practice
Study layer. The answers are based on the chapter’s text.
What does "(I, ch. 8 and 9)" in the tables indicate?
Who is the volume meant for?
Food for thought
Which topic in the collection do you want to understand first? Follow the link in the corresponding table.
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