Corporate Responsibility, Ethics, and Animal Welfare

Do organizations that keep wild animals in captivity owe them moral consideration? This thesis provides a historical overview of the moral consideration provided to animals and analyzes present-day philosophical writing. The representative contemporary ethical frameworks include utilitarianism, relational theory, animal rights theory, and coherence theory. Studied are issues of anthropocentrism, sentience, and equal consideration. Discussed are the ethical defensibility of zoos, aquariums, circuses, and canned hunts under the contemporary ethical frameworks, and in relation to these issues.