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Petowners should stop calling their animals “pets” because it is insulting, leading academics claim.
Domestic dogs, cats, hamsters or budgerigars should be rebranded as “companion animals” while owners should be known as “human carers”, they insist.
Even terms such as wildlife are dismissed as insulting to the animals concerned — who should instead be known as “free-living”, the academics including an Oxford professor suggest.
The call comes from the editors of Journal of Animal Ethics, a new academic publication devoted to the issue.
It is edited by the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, a theologian and director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, who once received an honorary degree from the Archbishop of Canterbury for his work promoting the rights of “God’s sentient creatures”.
It argues that “derogatory” language about animals can affect the way that they are treated. “Despite its prevalence, ‘pets’ is surely a derogatory term both of the animals concerned and their human carers”, the editorial claims.
“Again the word ‘owners’, whilst technically correct in law, harks back to a previous age when animals were regarded as property, machines or things to use without moral constraint.”
“We invite authors to use the words ‘free-living’, ‘free-ranging’ or ‘free-roaming’ rather than ‘wild animals’.”
“For most, ‘wildness’ is synonymous with uncivilized, unrestrained, barbarous existence. There is an obvious prejudgment here that should be avoided.”
英国学者呼吁禁称“宠物”
一批学者正在呼吁动物爱好者们不再把他们的动物称为“宠物”，认为这是一种对动物的侮辱。
他们纷纷表示，对于猫猫狗狗、仓鼠以及虎皮鹦鹉这些家养动物，人们应该称其为“动物伴侣”，而主人应该叫做“人类照顾者”。
包括一名牛津大学教授在内的众多英国学者建议，即使是“野生动物”这样的用词也是带有侮辱性质的，应该被“生活无拘无束的”代替。
这项倡议由《动物伦理学杂志》发起，这一新兴的学术刊物旨在对这一议题进行研究。
该杂志的主编，牛津动物伦理中心主任安德鲁·林基曾因推进“上帝作为有感知的生物”的权利的研究工作而得到坎特伯雷大主教授予的荣誉学位。
该篇文章认为使用这样“贬义”的语言会影响到我们对待动物的方式。文章这样写道，“尽管‘宠物’这个词已经被广泛使用，但不论对动物还是它们的人类照顾者来说，这个词确实是贬义的”。
“再说‘主人’这个词，虽然从法律角度来讲，这样的用词是没有技术问题的，但在更早的历史时期，这个词让我们联想到动物是财产、机器抑或是可以抛掉道德约束随意使用的东西。”
“我们恳请诸多作家使用‘无拘无束’‘自由放养’‘自由漫步’这样的词，而非是‘野生动物’这样的词。”
“对大多数人来说，‘野生’等同于野蛮的、无拘束的、原始的概念。这个词所传达出来明显的预先判断应该是要避免的。”
Domestic dogs, cats, hamsters or budgerigars should be rebranded as “companion animals” while owners should be known as “human carers”, they insist.
Even terms such as wildlife are dismissed as insulting to the animals concerned — who should instead be known as “free-living”, the academics including an Oxford professor suggest.
The call comes from the editors of Journal of Animal Ethics, a new academic publication devoted to the issue.
It is edited by the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, a theologian and director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, who once received an honorary degree from the Archbishop of Canterbury for his work promoting the rights of “God’s sentient creatures”.
It argues that “derogatory” language about animals can affect the way that they are treated. “Despite its prevalence, ‘pets’ is surely a derogatory term both of the animals concerned and their human carers”, the editorial claims.
“Again the word ‘owners’, whilst technically correct in law, harks back to a previous age when animals were regarded as property, machines or things to use without moral constraint.”
“We invite authors to use the words ‘free-living’, ‘free-ranging’ or ‘free-roaming’ rather than ‘wild animals’.”
“For most, ‘wildness’ is synonymous with uncivilized, unrestrained, barbarous existence. There is an obvious prejudgment here that should be avoided.”
英国学者呼吁禁称“宠物”
一批学者正在呼吁动物爱好者们不再把他们的动物称为“宠物”，认为这是一种对动物的侮辱。
他们纷纷表示，对于猫猫狗狗、仓鼠以及虎皮鹦鹉这些家养动物，人们应该称其为“动物伴侣”，而主人应该叫做“人类照顾者”。
包括一名牛津大学教授在内的众多英国学者建议，即使是“野生动物”这样的用词也是带有侮辱性质的，应该被“生活无拘无束的”代替。
这项倡议由《动物伦理学杂志》发起，这一新兴的学术刊物旨在对这一议题进行研究。
该杂志的主编，牛津动物伦理中心主任安德鲁·林基曾因推进“上帝作为有感知的生物”的权利的研究工作而得到坎特伯雷大主教授予的荣誉学位。
该篇文章认为使用这样“贬义”的语言会影响到我们对待动物的方式。文章这样写道，“尽管‘宠物’这个词已经被广泛使用，但不论对动物还是它们的人类照顾者来说，这个词确实是贬义的”。
“再说‘主人’这个词，虽然从法律角度来讲，这样的用词是没有技术问题的，但在更早的历史时期，这个词让我们联想到动物是财产、机器抑或是可以抛掉道德约束随意使用的东西。”
“我们恳请诸多作家使用‘无拘无束’‘自由放养’‘自由漫步’这样的词，而非是‘野生动物’这样的词。”
“对大多数人来说，‘野生’等同于野蛮的、无拘束的、原始的概念。这个词所传达出来明显的预先判断应该是要避免的。”