Opinions regarding the place of animals in society range enormously, falling somewhere on the spectrum between perspectives that view animals as a simple commodity for human use to being creatures with inherent value that justifies them having individual protections as "experiencers of life".

The two books recently reviewed by IAL provide philosophical and ethical assessments by long-established authors on the subject of the human-animal relationship.

The Animal Manifesto

Mark Bekoff is a professor emiratus of ecology and environmental biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder (USA) and a scholar in residence at the University of Denver's Institute for human-animal connection. He is an established global expert and philosopher who has consistently argued the grounds for an expanded moral vision of animals. His book, The Animal Manifesto, advocates six reasons for “expanding our compassion footprint” in respect of animals. The Animal Manifesto states that it is a “call for action” based on “facts that have been established about animal sentience” and considers how these perspectives affect society's current value system in terms of science, ethics, morality, and emotion. Professor Bekoff utilizes personal observations and anecdotes in combination with statistics and findings from a variety of sources to illustrate his philosophy regarding animals.

Read more at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1577316495/?tag=gpfm-20

Why Animal Suffering Matters

Andrew Linzey is Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and a member of the faculty of theology at the University of Oxford. (http://www.oxfordanimalethics.com/who-we-are/director/). His book, Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology, and Practical Ethics argues that the use of animals is based largely on assumed differences between animals and human beings which, although viewed by some people as a basis for treatment which may be viewed as inferior, also provide grounds for extending moral solicitude to animals as sentient beings according to Linzey. Why Animal Suffering Matters addresses issues such as consent, representation of interests, animal comprehension and vulnerability, making an analogy between the treatment of animals and human infants.

Read more at  http://www.amazon.com/Why-Animal-Suffering-Matters-Philosophy/dp/product-description/0195379772