The History of Animal Ethics in Western Culture

Abstract

In this chapter, I highlight recent research concerning ancient human impacts on faunal communities around the world. While a comprehensive review is beyond the scope of this chapter, I cover some of the most striking examples of human-animal interactions by pre-industrial hunter-gatherer-fisher populations, highlighting the dynamic relationship between humans and animals beginning 50,000 years ago in the Old World. My purpose is to demonstrate that complex relationships between humans and wild animals extend into deep antiquity. The following case studies reveal that the adaptive success of anatomically modern humans (AMHs) was inextricably tied to the human-animal experience long before large-scale agriculture and pastoralism. I conclude by suggesting how a better understanding of the long-term interactions between humans, animal communities, and the environment can help address modern environmental crises and conservation biology, and is relevant to clinical psychologists and researchers interested in the human-animal bond. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved). (chapter)