In which conditions does the human species endow itself with a series of obligations aimed at orienting
its relationship with non-human species? In my paper I shall try to answer this question by
formulating two divergent theses. According to the first thesis (§ 1) the conditions of possibility for
these obligations reside in a prescriptive dimension, ie authoritative. This thesis is articulable by distinguishing two kinds of authoritative source, respectively of transcendent (§ 1.1) and immanent
type (§ 1.2). Here the awareness of the proximity between the animal species doesn’t seem to play
an explicit role. The second kind of thesis (§ 2) identifies as a condition of possibility for these obligations a certain cognitive experience: that takes place thanks to the popularization of science's notions (§ 2.1) and that can take place by the virtue of a direct interaction between a man and another
animal (§ 2.2). Here the awareness of the proximity between the animal species plays an explicit
role. In § 3 I will argue why it is adequate to recognize in the perceptual, and therefore bodily, dimension the condition – prior to any prescription and scientific notion – for the emergence of feelings
of obligations inherent to our relationship with other animals.
