Disponible:*
Bibliothèque | Type de document | Numéro de cote topographique | Nombre d'enregistrements enfants | Emplacement | Statut | Réservations du document |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recherche en cours... Museum | Book | QL85 .M54 1991 | 1 | Stacks | Recherche en cours... Inconnu | Recherche en cours... Indisponible |
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Résumé
Résumé
Long before the Endangered Species Act and the spotted owl controversy, American conservationists debated the ethics of wildlife protection. Although all were alarmed by the rapid destruction of game species in the late 1800s, some sought to preserve animals for their aesthetic and material benefit to humans, while others believed it was wrong to mistreat any wild creature. Wild Animals and American Environmental Ethics shows how the latter view evolved into the animal rights activism of today. Lisa Mighetto examines portrayals of wildlife in popular literature dating from the nineteenth century, revealing how early conservationists looked for evidence of morality in animals that would make them more acceptable to the American public. Arguing that animals should be protected because they think, feel, and act in a manner similar to humans, some went so far as to claim that these creatures have rights. Not all wild animals readily conformed to the new image. The first conservationists did not extend their ethics to predators or "varmints," and supported government efforts to wipe them out. By describing how animal lovers gradually came to advocate protection of even these creatures, Mighetto traces the development of modern ecological values and the biocentric perspective. Americans now stand at a critical point in wildlife protection, wielding the threat of extinction over numerous species. Mighetto places arguments regarding wildlife protection in historical perspective and thus helps us evaluate our inherited attitudes and assumptions about the animal world. Enhancing the text are more than fifty illustrations that demonstrate the interaction between humans and wildlife over the last century.
Résumé
Long before the Endangered Species Act and the spotted owl controversy, American conservationists debated the ethics of wildlife protection. Although all were alarmed by the rapid destruction of game species in the late 1800s, some sought to preserve animals for their aesthetic and material benefit to humans, while others believed it was wrong to mistreat any wild creature. Wild Animals and American Environmental Ethics shows how the latter view evolved into the animal rights activism of today. Lisa Mighetto examines portrayals of wildlife in popular literature dating from the nineteenth century, revealing how early conservationists looked for evidence of morality in animals that would make them more acceptable to the American public. Arguing that animals should be protected because they think, feel, and act in a manner similar to humans, some went so far as to claim that these creatures have rights. Not all wild animals readily conformed to the new image. The first conservationists did not extend their ethics to predators or "varmints," and supported government efforts to wipe them out. By describing how animal lovers gradually came to advocate protection of even these creatures, Mighetto traces the development of modern ecological values and the biocentric perspective. Americans now stand at a critical point in wildlife protection, wielding the threat of extinction over numerous species. Mighetto places arguments regarding wildlife protection in historical perspective and thus helps us evaluate our inherited attitudes and assumptions about the animal world. Enhancing the text are more than fifty illustrations that demonstrate the interaction between humans and wildlife over the last century.
Critiques (4)
Critique de Choice
Mighetto's short book traces the parallel histories of the US conservation and animal rights movements. Early organized conservation efforts leading to the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 largely reflected the interests of hunters in protecting game for sport. The hunting ethic eschewed mass slaughter of wild animals for the market and idealized the hunt as an arena of physical risk, self-reliance, and mastery of rapacious adversaries. To the founders of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, cruelty was the issue. For today's animal rights movement, sentience is paramount, rather than the concern with a human ethos of kindliness. Mighetto does not very clearly distinguish sentience as sensitivity to pain from sentience as a rather anthropomorphic characteristic. Her main message is that ^D["bio-centrists,^D]" like the environmental ethicist Baird Callicott, accept predation, pain, and death as natural to an integrated ecology. She seems to hope that environmentalists might be attracted to the concern for individual animals, which conservationists and ecologists tend to find overly sentimental in the thinkng of vegetarians and animal rights activists. The narrative is accessible and simply written, but no match for the conceptually tougher and more probing discussions in Max Oelschlaelger's The Idea of Wilderness (CH, Jan'92).
Critique du Library Journal
Human attitudes toward animals have followed an interesting progression since the conservation movement began in the mid-19th century. This book traces the changing patterns of human perceptions of wild animals through a study of the literature of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Photographs, as well as literary references from such authors as Jack London, John Muir, and Rachel Carson, are used to illustrate people's attitudes toward wildlife. The author does not argue either for or against the animal rights movement. She advocates acceptance of animals as they are and tries to combat the human-centeredness that has pervaded our thinking about the animal kingdom. This well-written volume would be an interesting addition to environmental collections in academic libraries.-- Deborah Emerson, Monroe Community Coll. Lib., Rochester, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Critique de Choice
Mighetto's short book traces the parallel histories of the US conservation and animal rights movements. Early organized conservation efforts leading to the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 largely reflected the interests of hunters in protecting game for sport. The hunting ethic eschewed mass slaughter of wild animals for the market and idealized the hunt as an arena of physical risk, self-reliance, and mastery of rapacious adversaries. To the founders of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, cruelty was the issue. For today's animal rights movement, sentience is paramount, rather than the concern with a human ethos of kindliness. Mighetto does not very clearly distinguish sentience as sensitivity to pain from sentience as a rather anthropomorphic characteristic. Her main message is that ^D["bio-centrists,^D]" like the environmental ethicist Baird Callicott, accept predation, pain, and death as natural to an integrated ecology. She seems to hope that environmentalists might be attracted to the concern for individual animals, which conservationists and ecologists tend to find overly sentimental in the thinkng of vegetarians and animal rights activists. The narrative is accessible and simply written, but no match for the conceptually tougher and more probing discussions in Max Oelschlaelger's The Idea of Wilderness (CH, Jan'92).
Critique du Library Journal
Human attitudes toward animals have followed an interesting progression since the conservation movement began in the mid-19th century. This book traces the changing patterns of human perceptions of wild animals through a study of the literature of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Photographs, as well as literary references from such authors as Jack London, John Muir, and Rachel Carson, are used to illustrate people's attitudes toward wildlife. The author does not argue either for or against the animal rights movement. She advocates acceptance of animals as they are and tries to combat the human-centeredness that has pervaded our thinking about the animal kingdom. This well-written volume would be an interesting addition to environmental collections in academic libraries.-- Deborah Emerson, Monroe Community Coll. Lib., Rochester, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.