Abstract
In this paper, we present and defend the theoretical framework of an empirical model to describe people’s fundamental moral attitudes (FMAs) to animals, the stratification of FMAs in society and the role of FMAs in judgment on the culling of healthy animals in an animal disease epidemic. We used philosophical animal ethics theories to understand the moral basis of FMA convictions. Moreover, these theories provide us with a moral language for communication between animal ethics, FMAs, and public debates. We defend that FMA is a two-layered concept. The first layer consists of deeply felt convictions about animals. The second layer consists of convictions derived from the first layer to serve as arguments in a debate on animal issues. In a debate, the latter convictions are variable, depending on the animal issue in a specific context, time, and place. This variability facilitates finding common ground in an animal issue between actors with opposing convictions.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. F. L. B. Meijboom for his valuable contribution to the development of the model, Prof. Dr. I. Weeda for her valuable contribution to the development of the questionnaire, and Dr. S. Greene for editing the manuscript. This article is part of the research project entitled “New foundations for prevention and control of notifiable animal diseases” that is funded by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Cohen, N.E., Brom, F.W.A. & Stassen, E.N. Fundamental Moral Attitudes to Animals and Their Role in Judgment: An Empirical Model to Describe Fundamental Moral Attitudes to Animals and Their Role in Judgment on the Culling of Healthy Animals During an Animal Disease Epidemic. J Agric Environ Ethics 22, 341–359 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-009-9157-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-009-9157-6