To Hunt or not to Hunt, Here is the Question

Abstract

Few issues raise as much conflict of opinion in the environmental arena as hunting. There are numerous forms of hunting in a diffuse gradient of interests, methods, social and environmental effects, degrees of formalization and degrees of socialacceptance. The modern debate on hunting, including in Brazil, focuses on moral issues, but environmental and social issues are gaining relevance. A reflection on hunting goes through the overcoming of ambiguousforms such as biodiversity and animals are represented in modern societies. Being a newly incorporated theme in the ethical domain, this is a field still under construction on which there is no unified morality. In this article I argue that (1) there is a great deal of diversity of relationships between humans and animals and
of motivations for these relationships in modern societies, in such a way that the concept of hunting must always be referred to an explicit context; (2) arguments and judgments in favor or against particular types of hunting include contradictions and conflicts with those used in other environmental issues; (3) superficial treatment of the topic and lack of consensus often result in improperly grounded positions and decisions; (4) the dominant modern social construction is conditioned by the urban way of life, which is characterized by a departure or even alienation of first-hand contacts with wild environments and species, emphasizing the notion of cruelty; (5) that all forms of hunting present challenges and opportunities for the satisfaction of social interests and contribution or threat to the conservation of biodiversity, so it is not possible to judge a
priori any type of hunting as in itself conservationist or degrading.