Abstract / DOI
Animal Ethics Reflected on the Background of the Critique on Teleology: World Views – History of Terminology – Argumentations. Descartes replaced Aristotle’s influential natural teleology by a mechanistic worldview since the former was no more compatible with the uprising modern sciences. Thus he disclaimed sentience in animals by his infamous animal machine theory. By virtue of the scientifically driven critique on (theological) teleology the fact/value-hiat emerged firstly described by Hume. Besides his value-loaden teleological natural order, Aristotle had established an influential anthropocentric ethics that has excluded non-rational animals from the moral community. – On the one side, modern sentientistic animal ethics tries to escape from the scientifically based fact/value-failure by falling back on pre-modern teleological concepts like «intrinsic values» or natural (philosophy based moral) rights of animals. On the other side, animal ethicists argue scientifically in order to criticize the ethical anthropocentrism as speciesism. In the article the intricate historic background is reconstructed to enlighten the hidden teleology in the terminology and argumentation strategies used in modern animal ethics.