[Man and his fellow-creatures under ethical aspects. Literary report 2001/2002, No.25] [Article in German]

Abstract

The first two years of the new millennium have brought the Swiss and now also the German animal protection laws changes, which can well be termed the beginning of a possible revolution of traditional legal thought. With the decision of the German Bundestag on the 17th of May 2002, animals were included under the protection of the constitution: The anthropocentric exclusivity of the constitution has been broken. And even though the established anthropocentricity in Germany as in Switzerland will do everything to minimise what it deems 'the damage', the decisive step to open new paths has been taken. in light of this new situation, some statements made in this report have now fortunately become obsolete.
The ability of humans to think further than and feel moral obligations towards more than themselves and their own species reaches back into antiquity, as shown by example in this report addressed to Pythagoras: The concept that humanity as a moral duty also includes other living creatures is old, protective legislation for animals was a fruit of the 19th century, but the legal-constitutional acknowledgement of this duty only took place in our time: in 1980 in the constitution of the Swiss canton Aargau, in 1992 in the national constitution of Switzerland and in 2002 in the constitutional law of Germany. But, these are all only symbols of intentions which are not self-fulfilling. The European thinking tradition which has re-emerged over the past years, has mainly regional meaning, especially in the context of historical-humanitarian monographs and anthologies, e.g. from Peter Dinzelbacher, Manuela Linnemann, Paul Münch and Hans-Peter Schütt (see Chapter 3.1 of this report), and only recently from Monica Libell (Chapter 3.1.1) and Helena Röcklinsberg (3.2). Possibly, this development has strengthened the increase of challenging instead of sales-orientated literature.