Animal welfare and rights represent two distinct but deeply interconnected philosophies regarding how humans should treat non-human animals.
: Posits that humans can use animals for food, research, or companionship as long as they are treated well and their suffering is minimized. It is the dominant legal paradigm in most countries. Animal welfare and rights represent two distinct but
Arguing that non-consenting sentient beings should never be used as biological models for human benefit, pushing for computational modeling and human cell-based research. 3. Entertainment and Captivity How do welfare and rights frameworks differ in
Early thinkers like Descartes viewed animals as "automata" without souls, while Jeremy Bentham later famously argued that the key question is not "Can they reason?" but " Can they suffer? ". Peter Singer’s 1975 book Animal Liberation is often cited as the catalyst for the modern movement. Animal welfare and rights represent two distinct but