Djuretik i teori och praxis

In animal ethics animal capacity to suffer and experience is a selfevident point of departure when elaborating theories for respecting animals. Less often the practical consequences of "respecting an animal" is discussed in these theories, still they want to influence our behavior towards the animals. So, in order to know what is respectful, we need to connect scientific knowledge about an animal with the ethical theories. For this reason animal behaviour science, Ethology, is a important part of this book as a link between theory and practice.

The relation between theories of animal ethics (philosophical as well as theological) and practical handling of animals is analysed in five German animal ethicists from different positions; Anthropocentric Michael Schlitt, Sentientistic Ursula Wolf and Erich Grässer, Biocentristic Günter Altner and Ecocentric Klaus Michael Meyer-Abich.

Finally a fifth position is proposed, a Christian Theocentric animal ethics, arguing that if humans take their uniqueness, Image of God serious, this implies carefull treatment of domesticated animals. If God is desrcibed as loving, defending the weak and marginalised humans ascribing imageship to themselves are not following the theological logic when crual or ignorant towards animals. In practice this does not imply vegetarianism as such, but that animals are reared and kept in a small scale related to environmental capacity, and only killing animals for the best of their own.