The Parts, The Whole and Their Relations: Examining Wildness as a Bridging Concept Between Animal and Environmental Ethics in Chinese Food Production

Abstract Animal ethics is a big part of food ethics, as our diets on a global level consist increasingly of animals. Even though the increasing demand for animal food products is especially strong in developing countries, most of the ethical theorizing on animal ethics focuses on western practices. This paper examines moral theorizing on animal vs environmental ethics in the Chinese context. It pays special attention to the concept of “wildness” as a possible bridge between animal and environmental ethics and highlights how this notion becomes ambiguous in practice. We show that the ethical concepts and dilemmas of classical animal ethics are applicable to the novel case of China as well, but that is important to consider specific cultural and policy practices. Furthermore, we use the political context of Chinese wildlife regulation to show the difficulties of the application of the notion of wildness in practice.