Animal and Human Health and Welfare A Comparative Philosophical Analysis

About this book

For many years scientists within human and animal science have extensively discussed the philosophy of medicine, but never have both sides communicated on their concepts of health, quality of life and welfare, with each other. This book helps clarify the difficult but central notions of health and welfare by comparing the human and animal variants of these concepts.

Split into three parts this book starts by presenting a background of some of the major theories of human health and welfare, among these are the bio-statistical theory, classical theories such as Aristotle and Bentham, as well as objectivist and subjectivist contemporary theories. This is followed by a detailed discussion of theories on animal welfare and health; these include coping, feeling and preference theories. The final part of the book tests a comprehensive conceptual framework of a holistic kind, which focuses on the individual's ability to achieve its vital goals.

Contents

Contents

Some Theories of Human Health and Welfare
An Overview of Historical Conceptions of Human Health
A Starting-point: Two Modern Streams of Philosophy of Human Health and Disease
The Place of Evolutionary Theory in the Philosophy of Health and Welfare
Two Classic Theories of Human Welfare
A Background to the Analysis of Welfare or Quality of Life in the Human Sciences
Some Contemporary Theories of Human Welfare or Quality of Life
Theories of Animal Health and Welfare
Ideas on Animal Health
Some Examples of Ideas on Animal Welfare
Biological Theories of Animal Welfare
Theories of Welfare, Ethics and Values
Theories of Welfare in Terms of Subjective Well-Being
On Animal Minds: A Digression
On Quality of Life in Animals
The Idea of Welfare as Fulfillment of Preferences
* Theories of Welfare in Terms of Needs
* Theories of Welfare in Terms of Natural Behaviour
* On Complex Views of Animal Welfare
* On Conflicts Between Individual and Systemic Welfare
* Welfare and Time
* Summing up the Analysis
* A Holistic Approach to Animal Health and Welfare
* Towards a Holistic Theory of Health in Animal Science
* Towards a Happiness Theory of Welfare in the Animal Context

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