Moral Status of Animals in the Ancient World (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 21st-century debates about animal welfare and animal rights can be traced back to the ancient world. The idea that the use of animals by humans-for food, clothing, entertainment, and as research subjects-is morally acceptable, springs mainly from two sources. First, there is the idea of a divine hierarchy based on the theological concept of "dominion," from Genesis (1:20-28), where Adam is given "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Although the concept of dominion need not entail property rights, it has been interpreted over the centuries to imply some form of ownership.