There are so many important issues related to animals, ethics, and society, and I am thrilled to be a part of this forum for discussion on such topics. Today, I want to take a few steps back from the specific issues to talk about how we think about these things. All human inquiry is informed by ideas about how the world works. This is more than just academic or philosophical conversation. Theories are entirely practical; they can promote dialogue and exploration-challenging what is “commonsense” or taken for granted-and they can help us to describe, explain and evaluate the world we live in. What’s more, when thinking about our relationships with the nonhuman world, ontological positions are particularly significant because they determine who (or what) is to qualify for ethical consideration, the practical consequences of which can literally mean life (for those welcomed into the moral community) or death (for those excluded).

My own way of understanding human-animal interactions is dynamic, and I strive to honor both theory and practice by working with a set of overlapping ideas intended to guide thinking about our relations with animals. My approach is grounded in philosophical hermeneutics, incorporates a plurality of post-positivist thought, and utilizes a practical ethics framework. Essentially, when I think about issues like marine mammal policy or dolphin-human interactions (or anything else, for that matter), this is where I always begin:

• There is no value-free inquiry. All human understanding is rife with moral implications.
• There is a natural world that exists independent of us. Our perception of the world, which is historically situated and fluid, mediates our understanding of it.
• When seeking understanding about the world and our relations in it, we must take a flexible, dialogical and situated approach.
• Understanding requires interpretation of the individual experience through attention to meaning, articulated and enacted in contexts, which inform the action of conscious agents-both human and nonhuman.
• When it comes to conflict over what is “true” or what is “right” there are no absolutes. But we can decipher better (and worse) ways of living in the world.

This is the lens through which I see the world, and from which I join you here in these important discussions.