War and Animal Killing

Anna Pellanda*

Professor of Political Economy (Retired), University of Padua, Italy

*Corresponding Author: Anna Pellanda, Professor of Political Economy (Retired), University of Padua, Italy.

Received: August 26, 2022; Published: September 16, 2022

Abstract

This brief note asks the question why, in the 21^st century, are there still wars? Why has mankind not learned how to solve political, economic and ideological problems in a more civilized manner? We believe the answer lies in the inherently violent nature of human beings ever since they appeared on the planet, and in the fact that they had to hunt animals in order to survive, and thus became inured to the spilling of blood. With the arrival of farming in the Neolithic period (from the 9^th to the 7^th millennium BC) it would have been possible for human beings to stop killing animals. Instead, they have continued to murder them ever more brutally, right up to the invention of the barbaric intensive breeding farms of today.

From philosophers of the Ancient World to modern-day thinkers, writers have charted this path from prehistory to our own times, and shown how human beings’ violence against animals contributes to their habit of taking up arms against each other.

Keywords: Wars; Animals; Breeding

References

1. “The Metamorphoses XV, 139-142
2. PLUTARCH, De esu carnium (On Meat-Eating), II A 994.
3. Idem, 4, II c 998
4. Idem, d-f 959
5. THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa contra Gentiles, III, CXII 2562.
6. ERASMUS of ROTTERDAM, Dulce bellum inexpertis, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale 1517, 7.
7. “God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground’.” Bible, Genesis, 1, 26. Cf. also Gen. 1, 27, 28, 29.
8. “And Allah has made your homes a place to rest and has given you tents from the hide of animals, light to handle when you travel and when you camp. And out of their wool, fur, and hair He has given you furnishings and goods for a while”. Koran, XVI, 80. Cf. also V, 96; XVI, 14; XVI, 66, VIII, 60; LIX, 6.
9. Aristotele was of the opinion that animals, be they wild or domestic, were subject to the will of humans because they are slaves by nature. ARISTOTELE, The Politics, I, 1253-1255.
10. Descartes took a particularly strong stance, saying that there are two errors that divert man from virtue: the denial of God and the claim that the soul of animals is of the same nature as our own. DESCARTES, R., Discourse on the Method, Parts V and VI.
11. THEOPHRASTUS, On Piety, VIII, 31, 3.

Citation

Citation: Anna Pellanda. “War and Animal Killing". Acta Scientific Agriculture 6.10 (2022): 24-26.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Anna Pellanda. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.