On The Predicament And Way Out Of Western Animal Protection Ethics

Human beings and animals belong to nature and interact in nature.The relationship between human beings and animals changes with the development of human society.After the Second World War,the rapid recovery of the economy has intensified the exploitation of natural resources.As a result,serious environmental pollution problems have been brought about by it.Mankind has gradually realized the importance of protecting natural resources.Meanwhile,animal protection has begun to be concerned by mankind.The emergence of environmental ethics has promoted the birth of animal protection ethics.The animal protection ethics represented by Peter Singer's animal liberation theory and Tom Regan's animal rights theory greatly influenced people's attitude towards animals,and at the same time,they also drew many criticisms.The existence of a theory also has its limitations.This paper aims at the basis of animal protection ethics main content and social contribution analysis,explores its theoretical predicament and realistic problems,and tries to find a new way to solve these problems.So it can balance theory and practice to promote the development of animal protection ethics.Firstly,this paper writes the historical origin,development and theoretical background of animal ethics,on this foundation,this paper studies the primary coverage of animal ethics which includes the theory of animal liberation,the theory of animal rights and the theory of animal welfare.And then it selectes the representative theory,animal liberation and the animal rights to analyse their theoretical difficulties and practical problems.From the theoretical point of view,the utilitarianism exists contradiction,and it has a contradicton with the principle of equality.The concept of "right" is indeterminate.The logic of theoretical argumentation is leaping and so on.From the practical point of view,the abolitionism which is disjointed with social reality can not be accepted by people.Aiming at these problems,this paper attempts to explore the solution of these problems from two aspects of theory and practice,in order to seek a better balance between the theory of animal protection and the application of practice,and promote the rational development of animal protection movement more effectively.