On The Silk Road Travel Of Cat From The Perspective Of Animal Ethics

From the perspective of Animal Ethics,this thesis demonstrates the history of the outward spread of the(domestic)cat from its genetic origin is literally the Silk Road Travel,and explores the history of dynamic relationships between human beings and cats as well.As the conclusion,on the one hand,an economic,cultural and aesthetic community for human beings is constructed,on the other hand,there is also a call for a human-animal ethical community in the future.The selection of cat as a case study is not only because the genetic origin of(domestic)cat all over the world is the Felis Lybica from ancient Egypt and the Middle East,but also aims to argue the cats’transmission to China and focuses on the intimate relationship of contemporary lifestyles which human beings and cats both share.The research on the Silk Road Travel of cat illustrates the dynamic relationships between human beings and cats by exploring the process,methods and results of the cat’s Silk Road Travel from the perspective of Animal Ethics throughout,so as to analyze the reasons for various ethical relationships in distinct ethical dilemmas in different periods and to reveal the possibilities for future development of the human-animal ethical community.This thesis is divided into four chapters,that are the extraterritorial part,the intraterritorial part,the methods and the results of the Silk Road Travel of cat.The first chapter states the extraterritorial part of Silk Road Travel of cat which starts from ancient Egypt and the Crescent area toward the north and the far east,discusses the indirect obligation on the ancient Egyptians for cats from the perspectives of archeology and religion,and also discusses the direct obligation and the history of conspiracy between speciesism and feminism after entering Europe,besides,the pet industry and the creation of the Persian cats in Europe are demonstrated then by means of the history of trade and transportation on Silk Road.The second chapter focuses on the the intraterritorial part of Silk Road Travel of cat,Based on clarifying distinctions between native cats from classical Chinese texts and exotic cats,the origin of cats in China now and its influence paths are indicated through the archeology of knowledge.In addition,the folk belief in ancient China is also examined in this chapter,in which cats played significant role,including social structures,political institution and cultural semiotics,while the relationships between human beings and cats developed dynamically both in favor and rejection.The third chapter draws on a mediological approach to claim how cats travel along the Silk Road,including hard media,soft media and new media such as internet,and accordingly talks about the situations that diverse medias impacted on animal ethical issues.The fourth chapter is mainly about the results of Silk Road Travel of cat.The reason for dynamic relationships between human beings and animals is summarized as different ethical choices due to cultural heterogeneity and new ethical dilemmas in modern society.Therefore,beyond the chronological construction of an economic,aesthetic,and cultural community for human beings,it also calls for the construction of an human-animal ethical community.This thesis is not only a case study on cat and an general interpretation on some specific questions,but also an effort on broadening the field of animal ethics research,the research on cultural activities history and the study on the Silk Road,in order to provide a research paradigm for research on human-animal relationships and a reference for the construction of a new human-animal ethical community under the inevitable mixed symbiosis condition in the future.