The Global Guide to Animal Protection

Section Six. Changing Perspectives

six Changing Perspectives extent of animal sentiency and animals’ complex systems of awareness. So huge is this paradigm shift that change is beginning to be felt in almost every area of human life that impacts on animals. This section provides examples of changing perspectives in ethics, law, religion, and science . The section concludes with an account of three declarations on the rights or welfare of animals. Andrew Linzey The last fifty years have witnessed major changes in the ways humans think about animals. From a view of them as things, machines, commodities , or resources for humans to do with as they wish, a new conception of animals has emerged—that sentient animals should be regarded as individuals with their own dignity, intrinsic value, and rights. This paradigm change is the result of work by philosophers and ethicists who have challenged the dominant view of animals and is informed by scientific work indicating the ...