For millennia, the relationship between humans and animals was defined by utility. Animals were tools—for labor, for food, for clothing, and for scientific progress. However, over the last two centuries, a profound ethical shift has occurred. Today, two powerful, often overlapping but distinct movements have emerged to challenge the status quo: and Animal Rights .

The traditional dichotomy between welfare and rights is increasingly unhelpful. In practice, many animal advocates adopt a :

Because they are subjects-of-a-life, they possess —value that does not depend on their usefulness to humans. And inherent value demands respect. To treat a being with inherent value as a thing (a resource, a commodity, a tool) is to violate its fundamental rights.