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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Animals & society > General
For centuries whales have captured our imaginations and ignited our
emotions. We have revered and mythologised them, hunted them to the
brink of extinction and passionately protected them. But how much
do we really know about whales? Based on the hugely popular,
internationally touring exhibition Whales Tohora (a.k.a. Whales:
Giants of the Deep), this all-new book brings these majestic marine
mammals and their underwater world to life, with a special focus on
the whales and dolphins of the South Pacific. From the first richly
illustrated, entertaining chapter, readers are immersed in the
salty sea, the home of the whales, to explore their amazing
diversity, biology and adaption to life in the oceans. Throughout
the book, literally hundreds of breath-taking photographs,
historical pictures, astonishing facts and figures and informative
illustrations and diagrams bring the whale world to life. Here,
too, are stories from people whose lives have been inextricably
linked with whales - from legendary South Pacific whale riders to
international whale scientists to conservationists to former
whalers and their families.Powerfully, Whales Tohora combines
storytelling, science, and culture to tell the story of the
relationship between the humans and these fascinating creatures
throughout history and into the future.
The use of animals in research has always been surrounded by
ethical controversy. This book provides an overview of the central
ethical issues focusing on the interconnectedness of science, law
and ethics. It aims to make theoretical ethical reasoning
understandable to non-ethicists and provide tools to improve
ethical decision making on animal research. It focuses on good
scientific practice, the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and
refinement), ethical theories applied to specific cases and an
overview of regulatory issues. The book is co-authored by experts
in animal research, animal welfare, social sciences, law and
ethics, and provides both animal researchers and members of animal
ethics committees with knowledge that can facilitate their work and
communication with stakeholders and the public. The book is written
to provide knowledge, not to argue a certain position, and is
intended to be used in training that aims to fulfil EU Directive
2010/63/EU.
Christine M. Korsgaard presents a compelling new view of humans'
moral relationships to the other animals. She defends the claim
that we are obligated to treat all sentient beings as what Kant
called "ends-in-themselves". Drawing on a theory of the good
derived from Aristotle, she offers an explanation of why animals
are the sorts of beings for whom things can be good or bad. She
then turns to Kant's argument for the value of humanity to show
that rationality commits us to claiming the standing of
ends-in-ourselves, in two senses. Kant argued that as autonomous
beings, we claim to be ends-in-ourselves when we claim the standing
to make laws for ourselves and each other. Korsgaard argues that as
beings who have a good, we also claim to be ends-in-ourselves when
we take the things that are good for us to be good absolutely and
so worthy of pursuit. The first claim commits us to joining with
other autonomous beings in relations of moral reciprocity. The
second claim commits us to treating the good of every sentient
creature as something of absolute importance. Korsgaard argues that
human beings are not more important than the other animals, that
our moral nature does not make us superior to the other animals,
and that our unique capacities do not make us better off than the
other animals. She criticizes the "marginal cases" argument and
advances a new view of moral standing as attaching to the atemporal
subjects of lives. She criticizes Kant's own view that our duties
to animals are indirect, and offers a non-utilitarian account of
the relation between pleasure and the good. She also addresses a
number of directly practical questions: whether we have the right
to eat animals, experiment on them, make them work for us and fight
in our wars, and keep them as pets; and how to understand the wrong
that we do when we cause a species to go extinct.
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Crab
(Paperback)
Cynthia Chris
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R427
R387
Discovery Miles 3 870
Save R40 (9%)
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Ships in 9 - 17 working days
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What is a crab? What significance do crabs play in the world? In
Crab, Cynthia Chris discovers that these charming creatures are
social by nature, creative problem-solvers, and invaluable members
of the environments in which they live. Their formidable physical
forms, their hard-to-harvest and quick-to-spoil flesh, and their
sassy demeanour have inspired artists and writers from Vincent van
Gogh to Jean-Paul Sartre. Cynthia Chris sketches vivid portraits of
these animals, tracing the history of the crab through its ancient
fossil record to its essential role in protecting its own habitats
from the threat of climate change.
A far-reaching, urgent, and thoroughly engaging exploration of our
relationship with animals - from the acclaimed Financial Times
journalist. This might be the worst time in history to be an
animal. But is there a happier way? Factory farms, climate change,
deforestation and pandemics have made our relationship with the
other species unsustainable. In response, Henry Mance sets out on a
personal quest to see if there is a fairer way to live alongside
the animals we love. He goes to work in an abattoir and on a farm
to investigate the reality of eating meat and dairy. He explores
our dilemmas around over-fishing the seas, visiting zoos and owning
pets, and he meets the chefs, activists, scientists and tech
visionaries who are redefining how we think about animals. A Times
Book of the Year
'A little gem of a book' Brendan O'Connor Tom Inglis and his
Wheaten terrier Pepe have lived together for eighteen years:
countless days of walks and play and the odd bit of chaos. Now,
though, they are both getting old. To Love a Dog tells the story of
Tom's life with Pepe, and looks at the ancient connection between
humans and dogs. It explores why we take on the hassle of caring
for these pet animals who rely on us so completely, who can create
mess and upset in our lives, and who will probably die before us,
leaving us behind to grieve. This is a book for everyone who has
ever loved a dog.
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Squid
(Paperback)
Martin Wallen
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R434
R396
Discovery Miles 3 960
Save R38 (9%)
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Ships in 9 - 17 working days
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In myths and legends, squids are portrayed as fearsome
sea-monsters, lurking in the watery deeps waiting to devour humans.
Even as modern science has tried to turn those monsters of the deep
into unremarkable calamari, squids continue to dominate the
nightmares of the Western imagination. Taking inspiration from
early weird fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, modern writers such as
Jeff VanderMeer depict squids as the absolute Other of human
civilization, while non-Western poets such as Daren Kamali depict
squids as anything but threats. In Squid, Martin Wallen traces the
many different ways humans have thought about and pictured this
predatory mollusk: as guardians, harbingers of environmental
collapse, or an untapped resource to be exploited. No matter how we
have perceived them, squids have always gazed back at us,
unblinking, from the dark.
Two-thirds of Americans polled by the Associated Press agree with
the following statement: \u0022An animal's right to live free of
suffering should be just as important as a person's right to live
free of suffering.\u0022 More than 50 percent of Americans believe
that it is wrong to kill animals to make fur coats or to hunt them
for sport. But these same Americans eat hamburgers, take their
children to circuses and rodeos, and use products developed with
animal testing. How do we justify our inconsistency? In this
easy-to-read introduction, animal rights advocate Gary Francione
looks at our conventional moral thinking bout animals. Using
examples, analogies, and thought-experiments, he reveals the
dramatic inconsistency between what we say we believe about animals
and how we actually treat them. Introduction to Animal Rights: Your
Child or the Dog? provides a guidebook to examining our social and
personal ethical beliefs. It takes us through concepts of property
and equal consideration to arrive at the basic contention of animal
rights: that everyone -- human and non-human -- has the right not
to be treated as a means to an end. Along the way, it illuminates
concepts and theories that all of us use but few of us understand
-- the nature of \u0022rights\u0022 and \u0022interests,\u0022 for
example, and the theories of Locke, Descartes, and Bentham. Filled
with fascinating information and cogent arguments, this is a book
that you may love or hate, but that will not fail to inform,
enlighten, and educate.
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