Ethics and Mythology: Conflicts between Two Attitudes toward Nonhuman Species

Western attitudes toward nonhuman animal species can be organized into two kinds:
an ethical and a mythological. The ethical attitude is that which characterizes the animal
as a subject of ethical consideration, while the mythological attitude is that which
characterizes the animal as a semiotic tool for human communicability. Many important
conflicts on the issue of animal rights arise out of a conflict of these two attitudes. This
thesis examines these conflicts in case studies focused on the wolf species canis lupus as
well as in the practices of zoo maintenance and species conservation, with philosophical
background in structuralism in the case of the mythological attitude, and contrasting
forms of utilitarianism.