The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals
Paul Waldau
Abstract
This is a study of the ways in which animals have been viewed in the Buddhist and Christian religious traditions. The concept of speciesism is used to explore basic questions about which animals, human or otherwise, were significant to early Buddhists and Christians. The volume also seeks to establish a general method of assessing religious traditions’ relationship to cultures’ and believers’ views of the living beings outside the human species. Focusing on language choices, science and other empirical data, ethics, and mechanisms of cultural transmission, the volume assesses the earliest stra ... More
This is a study of the ways in which animals have been viewed in the Buddhist and Christian religious traditions. The concept of speciesism is used to explore basic questions about which animals, human or otherwise, were significant to early Buddhists and Christians. The volume also seeks to establish a general method of assessing religious traditions’ relationship to cultures’ and believers’ views of the living beings outside the human species. Focusing on language choices, science and other empirical data, ethics, and mechanisms of cultural transmission, the volume assesses the earliest strata of, first, Buddhist tradition and then Christian tradition. Drawing on scriptures and interpretive traditions in Christianity and Buddhism, the volume argues that decisions about human ethical responsibilities in each religion are deeply rooted in ancient understandings of the place of humans in the world and our relationships with other animals. Assessing the reasoning and discourse patterns about nonhuman animals, especially in light of new perspectives that have emerged in reliance on the patient observation of the lives of the more complicated of nonhuman animals (elephants, dolphins, whales, and the nonhuman great apes), the volume attempts to provide a foundation for open‐minded discussions about possible relations with life outside the human species.
Keywords:
animals,
Buddhism,
Christianity,
ethics,
nonhuman,
religion,
speciesism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2003 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195145717 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003 |
DOI:10.1093/0195145712.001.0001 |
