What is an Animal?
Hub Zwart Environmental Values 6(1997): 377-392. doi: 10.3197/096327197776679059 Contemporary ethical discourse on animals is influenced partly by a scientific and partly by an anthropomorphic understanding of them. Apparently, we have deprived ourselves of the possibility of a more profound acquaintance with them. In this contribution it is claimed that all ethical theories or statements regarding the moral significance of animals are grounded in an ontological assessment of the animal’s way of being. In the course of history, several answers have been put forward to the question of what animals really and basically are. Three of them (namely the animal as a machine, an organism and a being that dwells in an – apparently – restricted world) are discussed. It is argued that the latter (Heideggerian) answer contains a valuable starting point for an ethical reflection on recent changes in the moral relationship between humans and animals.
• This lessson is a neat springboard for children picking out specific plants or animals they are interested in to research and learn more about! Help them use the Web, books, movies, and encyclopedias to gather more information about plants or animals. Have them share what they learn with others via a story, presentation, drawing, or paper. • Some may want to learn more about photosynthesis. Let them explore the wide range of plants that there are. Look for examples of plants that can move around or that “eat” for nourishment like the carnivorous plants! • Check out the University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology’s Animal Diversity Web to see pictures and information about many animals. • Explore Energy Flow in Amazonia. How do plants, animals, and other organisms obtain the energy they need to live? What does an enery pyramid demonstrate about how energy is used in an ecosystem? This project helps students, grades 6-9, understand these concepts as they construct a World Wide Web energ
