Inside the Emotional Lives of Non-human Animals: Part I

‘Emotions’ is the key concept around which the essays that will be collected in the first volume of Relations revolve. Animals’ emotions, as investigated and described by Marc Bekoff in his The Emotional Lives of Animals (2007), will constitute the starting point for the authors. They will set out to explore a series of aspects related to the relationships between humans and nonhuman animals: the phenomena of companion animals, animal experimentation, animal husbandry, animal advocacy, and so forth, paying attention to their philosophical, anthropological, theological, political, medical, and jurisprudential interpretations. The essays will offer examples of the intersection of scientific attitudes and ethical concerns toward nonhuman animals. In The Emotional Lives of Animals, Marc Bekoff advocates for good science in which both scientific rigor and compassion coexist and proceed hand in hand. The aim of this first volume of Relations is to provide an answer to Bekoff’s call. It is to contribute to academic debate around nonhuman animal-related issues, which fosters ethical concern towards nonhumans and their plight. As for the contents of this volume, in the first issue authors will define the consequences of the recognition of animal lives on laws and policies. In the second issue, authors will concentrate on specific application of the idea of the emotional lives of animals.