Animal welfare science and moral theory: social relational framework of empathetic accountability and welfare-aligned sentience

Animal cruelty in agricultural and commercial industries has steadily continued, despite the development of laws that recognise their capacity for such suffering and in extension, other various components of sentience. Animal sentience generally refers to animals’ capacity for consciousness and cogn...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Leo, Celine
Other Authors: Christina Chuang
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/165467
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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Summary:Animal cruelty in agricultural and commercial industries has steadily continued, despite the development of laws that recognise their capacity for such suffering and in extension, other various components of sentience. Animal sentience generally refers to animals’ capacity for consciousness and cognition. The non-consensus of its definition across both philosophers and scientists has brought about a need for further investigation, both in research and much more in ethical frameworks that argue for animal welfare. Statistical evidence of sentience alone is not morally compelling enough for agents, so socially conditioned, whereas abstract moral reasoning highlights further epistemic challenges in implementing standards of human-animal interactions into legislation. Therefore, this thesis seeks to make a shift towards alternative care ethics, positing a social relational animal welfare framework based on a welfare-aligned definition of animal sentience.