Czy odkrycia nauk biologicznych mogą zmienić nasz stosunek do zwierząt?

Abstract

Humanity has made great technological advance, but our spiritual development, in relation to animals, have changed little. Today’s scientific knowledge about the animals, their biology, the importance is incomparably greater than in the past. It can help us in a fundamental change in the approach to the animals to make their fate much better. The effect of scientific research in ecology is a very complex picture of the world in which all the elements are connected in all sorts of ways. Carefully studying the relationships in the world around us, we come to the conclusion that each species, no matter the level of evolutionary development, is necessary, important, is expected to fulfill its unique role. Every being lives only by other beings. Modern studies of ecosystems suggests that the relationship between living organisms are mostly based on cooperation, the principle of co-existence and mutual dependency, and that these relations are more or less symbiotic in nature. Ecology is called as subversive discipline, due to its basic premise: interrelatedness of all. The adoption of this assumption is a complete change of perspective for the researcher, but also for all of us, should mean a complete change in the approach to animals. Biological knowledge about animals and how their lives have become richer. The latest research shows that animals are endowed with much more advanced cognitive and social abilities than we thought. Each year brings a new and surprising facts about their behavior, skills. Common sensations of humans and other mammals has become a clear and indisputable as a result of brain research in the twentieth century. Although, do we need biological evidences demonstrating the similarities between man and of animals to make a fundamental breakthrough in our approach to animals? After all, the right to life, to respect, is not something to be earned. It is inalienable and inherent in the fact of existence. Only in 1988 the first country in the world (Austria) changed the law of ancient Rome, that the animal is a thing. Today there are a lot of changes in the law relating to various aspects of animal life. It is time for a further expansion of our moral obligations to other species of the animal world.