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What Are Zoos For?

Series: What Is It For?
Brief Description
Are zoos an anachronism in the 21st century when we can watch animals in their natural habitat, close-up from our couches without worrying about cruelty? Should they go the way of other bygone era 'spectacles' and 'attractions' that we now regard as barbaric? There are vocal... Read More
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Heather Browning and Walter Veit test the common justifications for zoos (entertainment, education, research, conservation) against the evidence and suggest what the best zoos of the future should look like to ensure that they are primarily for animals and not just for people.

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Are zoos an anachronism in the 21st century when we can watch animals in their natural habitat, close-up from our couches without worrying about cruelty? Should they go the way of other bygone era 'spectacles' and 'attractions' that we now regard as barbaric? There are vocal campaigners and activists who believe so.

Heather Browning and Walter Veit disagree, but they acknowledge there is a case to be answered. In What Are Zoos For?, they test the common justifications for zoos—entertainment, education, research, and conservation—against the evidence and suggest what the best zoos of the future should look like to ensure that they are primarily for animals and not just for people.

Series: What Is It For?

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  • What Are Zoos For?
    Are zoos an anachronism in the 21st century when we can watch animals in their natural habitat, close-up from our couches without worrying about cruelty? Should they go the way of other bygone era 'spectacles' and 'attractions' that we now regard as barbaric? There are vocal campaigners and activists who believe so. Heather Browning and Walter Veit disagree, but they...
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    Truth is for striving at, for the sake of good collective action. With new media technologies, it seems that falsehoods can spread faster and further than ever. And with new norms of public discourse, while being caught in a lie would once end a politician's career, today it is shrugged off, which has profound implications for democracy. Does the truth...
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  • What Is Humanism For?
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  • What Is the Welfare State For?
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  • What Is Journalism For?
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  • What Is the Monarchy For?
    Does the British monarchy still have a place in today's society? Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit cast light on institutional racism, Prince Andrew's alleged sexual abuse highlighted troubling attitudes towards gender and power, while the abolition of the monarchy in Barbados accentuated its relationship to colonialism. But what is the monarchy actually for? Does it benefit the UK, or...
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    How should we treat animals? The long-held belief that other animals exist solely for human use has undergone radical challenge in the past half century. How much further do we need to go to minimise, and even eliminate, animal suffering? The field of animal rights raises big questions about how humans treat the other animals with which we share the...
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  • What Are Museums For?
    The days when museums were dusty, stuffy institutions displaying their wealth and wisdom to a reverential public are over. Museums today are a cultural battleground. Who should decide what is put on display and how it is presented? Who gets to set the narrative? In this passionately argued book, Jon Sleigh maintains that museums must be for all people and...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529231045

Publisher: Bristol University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 26 November 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Bristol University Press

Illustration: 12 Halftones, black and white; 15 Illustrations, black and white

Audience: General / adult, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 203.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 156

About the Author

Heather Browning is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton, working on philosophical questions in animal welfare, sentience, and ethics. She previously worked as a zookeeper and zoo animal welfare officer in Australia and New Zealand.

Walter Veit is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Reading. His primary research interests lie in the intersection of the biological, social, and mind sciences and empirically informed philosophy and ethics.

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