Title: Moral Awareness and Animal Welfare
Subject Classification:  Bioethics, Society and Culture, Morals  
BIC Classification: PSAD, JFFZ, JF
BISAC Classification: NAT039000, PSY054000, SOC000000
Binding: Hardback, Paperback, eBook
Publication date: 10 Oct 2022
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-80441-024-0
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-80441-025-7
ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-80441-259-6

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Description

This book is written for researchers, students and professionals in areas including animal welfare ethics, animal behaviourists, veterinarians, veterinary nurses, animal welfare counsellors, animal trainers, and professionals and volunteers with an interest in animal welfare ethics. Several of the main areas of ethical inquiry concerning animals are introduced, explained and analysed. Inquiries also cover areas of cultural and religious sensitiveness regarding the welfare of animals, examining the scope of respect for particular cultures and their practical approaches to animal well-being. Unlike many books which feature arguments about ethical theories this book includes elements of personal experience with animals. Although the author is an academic teaching within a university structure, he is also a professional animal trainer.

Biography

Author(s):  David Lamb is Honorary Reader in Bioethics, University of Birmingham, UK; Lecturer in Animal Welfare Ethics in the University of Southampton; and Member of the Ethics Committee at Marwell Zoo, Winchester, UK

Reviews

"Despite the importance of animal welfare science for animal ethics, few philosophers and ethicists have made the effort to closely engage with this branch of science, and Lamb’s book provides an opportunity for people interested in bringing ethics and animal welfare science closer together. The book is accessibly written and though it is intended for a broad audience, it mostly targets animal welfare researchers who have less familiarity with the philosophical and animal ethics literature. The book is highly opinionated, and most readers will find much to both agree and disagree with. He covers a range of controversial topics, such as the role of anthropomorphism and anti-anthropomorphism in the animal sciences, the relevance of autonomy to moral consideration, the possession of concepts and use of language by animals, the role of animal aesthetics, the importance of caring relationships with animals, and the harms of killing animals. However, the primary focus is on two separate but related topics – the relevance of consciousness to moral status, and the scientific investigation of consciousness. The ethical debates are presented in a simple and accessible manner and could in principle be read by anyone, so long as they keep in mind that the author is providing this survey with a distinct point of view and should thus be read with a critical eye. The book raises many thought-provoking questions, and we believe it would make for a worthwhile library addition for those interested in the ethical questions that lie alongside the scientific study of animal welfare."
- Animal Welfare, Volume 32, 2023, e39 (Authors: Heather Browning and Walter Veit).

"For 40 years David Lamb has written incisively and compassionately on ethics. His latest book, Moral Awareness and Animal Welfare provides scholarly critiques of the main standard positions on the ethical status of (non-human) animals but does so with immense warmth and care. The book also offers clear and powerful critical evaluations of subjectivist, utilitarian and cost-benefit approaches to human-animal relationships. There are numerous pertinent examples and case studies that clarify and demonstrate his argument. This is a vital book for anyone living and working with animals or interested in applied animal ethics."
- Dr Benjamin Franks, Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Philosophy, School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow.

"It is not possible in a very short review to do justice to a book as challenging and intellectually exciting as David Lamb's Moral Awareness and Animal Welfare. I must, therefore, limit my efforts to enticing the readers by giving one or two examples that might show them what this excellent book holds in store for them. David Lamb is opposed to the notion that "ethical matters can be replaced by empirical and scientifically quantifiable studies of animals," which have become dominant in animal welfare studies, and to the prevalence of cost-benefit assessments. As he argues, "concepts of honesty, compassion, love, lust, hate, anger, jealousy, and many more" are not only integral to human relationships but extend in various ways to our relationships with animals, including honoring dogs and other animals who have been our companions and have died. This is one of the main ways in which David Lamb points to how moral awareness goes beyond the "scientific" animal welfare studies. He takes up the seemingly sensible "Five Freedoms" from the Animal Welfare Act of 2006, which aimed to free animals from several conditions: hunger and thirst; discomfort; pain and injury; disease, fear and distress; and freedom to express normal behavior. Nonetheless, as David Lamb argues, freedoms such as these are not sufficient for the happiness of the animals in question. Moreover, in the case of companion animals, we may be very fond of them, as they may be of us. If they were to die, we would want to honor them in their death. But surely, it would not be inconsistent with the Animal Welfare Act freedoms to eat the meat of the dead animals, and even to kill them as long as their deaths are not needlessly painful, and then to eat them. But most of us would be repelled by the thought of killing painlessly the dog that has been our faithful companion for ten years so we can eat it. Nothing may seem further from honoring him. You will most definitely honor yourself as a reader by enjoying the many interesting arguments offered by David Lamb in this fascinating book."
- Gonzalo Munevar, Professor Emeritus (retired), Lawrence Technological University