Animals, Extraterrestrial Life and Anthropocentrism in the Seventeenth Century

Wolloch, Nathaniel

doi:10.1080/0268117x.2002.10555510

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Situating Smith's views on animals within the history of early-modern discussions of them leads, in my opinion, to a different and less optimistic interpretation of his relevance for modern environmental concerns. As Gary Steiner has argued, anthropocentrism has played a crucial role in defining human-animal relations throughout history (Steiner, 2005; see also Wolloch, 2006b). While Smith was no exception to this rule, his thought presents one of the clearest early manifestations of the inherent tension between industrial utilization of animals on the one hand, and the growing requirement for ethical sensitivity to animal suffering on the other, a tension that has become a mainstay of modern debates about the human-animal relationship.…”

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Adam Smith’s economic and ethical consideration of animals

Wolloch

2013

History of the Human Sciences

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This article examines Adam Smith’s views on animals, centering on the singularity of his economic perspective in the context of the general early ethical debate about animals. Particular emphasis is placed on his discussions of animals as property. The article highlights the tension between Smith’s moral sensitivity to animal suffering on the one hand, and his emphasis on the constitutive role that the utilization of animals played in the progress of civilization on the other. This tension is depicted as a precursor of problematic aspects of the modern environmental crisis.

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confidence: 99%