The History of Human-Animal Interaction - In England, Philosophers Argueagainst Cruelty To Animals

Meanwhile, in Europe new social and philosophical movements were to have far-reaching effects on the welfare of animals. At the time, domestic animals were frequently treated brutally, either for entertainment or for profit. Blood sports continued to go on, although they were mostly enjoyed by the lower classes. Horses pulling carts and carriages were often beaten in the streets. It was still common practice to whip pigs and bulls prior to slaughter to tenderize the meat. Chickens were often nailed down by their feet to keep them from wandering, and geese were plucked while still alive. Dogs and cats were killed by the thousands as late as 1665, when they were blamed for spreading the plague.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, several notable philosophers and writers spoke out against the mistreatment of animals. John Locke (1632–1704) of England wrote that children should be taught from an early age that torturing and killing any living thing was despicable. In 1713 the poet Alexander Pope (1688–1744) wrote an article entitled "Against Barbarity to Animals" for London's Guardian newspaper.

David Hume (1711–76) of Scotland advocated "gentle usage" of animals for the sake of humanity. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) argued that cruelty to animals easily escalated to cruelty to humans and should therefore be stopped. Stopping animal cruelty for the sake of humans became a rather popular idea and was embraced more easily than the idea of preventing cruelty just for animals' sake.

In 1751 the British artist William Hogarth (1697–1764) released a series of etchings and engravings called The Four Stages of Cruelty. The graphic images depicted the life of a fictional boy named Tom Nero who graduates from harming animals as a child to harming people as an adult. In the first scene the boy, in a white cap, tortures a dog with an arrow. Although one boy tries to stop him, they are surrounded by other children also torturing animals. In the second scene Tom Nero is shown as a young man beating a horse on the street, while other acts of animal cruelty take place around him. The third scene shows fully grown Tom Nero immediately after he has murdered his girlfriend. In the fourth scene Tom Nero has been hanged for his crime, and his body is being dissected at a medical school.

In his notes Hogarth described why he created the pictures: "The four stages of cruelty, were done in hopes of preventing in some degree that cruel treatment of poor animals which makes the streets of London more disagreeable to the human mind, than any thing what ever, the very describing of which gives pain." Hogarth's intention was to illustrate some of the horrors of animal cruelty, but the connection between cruelty to animals and cruelty to humans was what captured people's attention. Even those who did not care about animal issues could see the dangers to civilized society of ignoring animal cruelty.

In 1764 the "mechanical animal" theory advocated by Descartes during the previous century was attacked by French philosopher François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694–1778) in Dictionnaire Philosophique Portatif. Voltaire argued that the scientists who dissected live animals found "organs of feeling" within them similar to those of humans, thus proving that animals could indeed feel pain.

In 1776 an Anglican clergyman named Humphry Primatt (circa 1742–90) published A Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and the Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals. Primatt wrote, "Pain is pain, whether it is inflicted on man or on beast." He equated cruelty to animals with sin and even atheism, and complained that legal authorities were doing little to stop it. Primatt argued that eliminating barbaric practices against animals might cut down on the number of "shocking murders" that were occurring.

One of the most poignant pleas for animals was made by British philosopher and political scientist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). In 1780 he wrote a paper ("An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation," published in 1789) in which he advocated making cruelty to animals punishable by law. Bentham wrote, "The question is not, Can they reason? Nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" Toward the end of the eighteenth century a few court cases were successfully tried against people who had abused animals, but only because the animals did not belong to the guilty parties.