zoophile

English

Alternative forms

• zoöphile (chiefly dated)

Etymology

From zoo- +‎ -phile.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzəʊ.ə.faɪl/, /ˈzuː.ə.faɪl/

Noun

zoophile (plural zoophiles)

1. A person sexually attracted to non-human animals.

   Synonyms: bestialist, zoosexual, (slang) zoo

2. A person who in their ethical propositions puts animals on a level with humans.
   • 1976, W. Lane-Petter, “The Ethics of Animal Experimentation”, in Journal of Medical Ethics‎^[1], volume 2, number 3, page 126:

     It is not, after all, the 'anti-speciesist', the 'animal liberationist', the radical zoophile who 'attributes a mystical persona' to animals. We simply say that if it is wrong to cause avoidable distress then it is wrong to torture, enslave and kill creatures not of our species for our own, frequently trivial, profit.

   • 2006, Gary Chartier, “Non-Human Animals and Process Theodicy”, in Religious Studies‎^[2], volume 41, number 1, page 10:

     […] the process theist may not regard the killing of non-human animals for food or other reasons as generally acceptable. Call the process thinker who regards the killing of non-human animals for food as (usually) morally wrong a zoophile. Even if the zoophile regards human beings as more capable of experience and insight than another animals, and as therefore more valuable than other animals, she may regard non-human animals as moral patients. She may well not regard predatory animals as full moral agents; she will then have no reason to see their killing of other animals for food as itself morally wrong, because predators are not themselves subject to moral assessments. But she may still find it difficult to square God's encouragement of predation with an attractive account of divine goodness. […] A moral theory may, of course, incorporate both consequentialist and non-consequentialist elements: the process thinker is not required to choose definitively between the two. However, to the extent that the process thinker who is also a zoophile reasons as a consequentialist about non-human animals and their interests, whether or not she does so about humans and their interests, she will face the problem that consequentialism appears problematic as a moral theory, and that the goodness of a God who acts as a consequentialist with respect to animals is not perhaps overly attractive morally.

Related terms

• zoophilia
• zoophilite

Translations

person sexually attracted to animals

• Azerbaijani: zoofil
• Czech: zoofil (cs) m
• Finnish: zoofiili
• Italian: zoofilo (it) m, zoofila f
• Macedonian: зоофил m (zoofil), скотоложец m (skotoložec)
• Russian: зоофил (ru) (zoofil)
• Swedish: zoofil c

Adjective

zoophile (comparative more zoophile, superlative most zoophile)

1. Preferring a beast milieu. Misconstruction of zoophilic
   • 2013 April 10, Viktor A Czaika, “Misdiagnosed zoophile tinea faciei and tinea corporis effectively treated with isoconazole nitrate and diflucortolone valerate combination therapy”, in Mycoses, volume 56, number s1, →DOI, pages 26–9:

     The manifestation of severely inflammatory, infiltrated and asymmetrical-disseminated plaques with well-defined borders in children should immediately suggest a zoophile dermatophytosis, especially when there is a plausible ‘history of animal contact’. An infection with T. mentagrophytes typically involves a severe eczematous skin reaction and sometimes the appearance of pustules. The areas of face, neck and arms are the most frequently affected in zoophilic dermatophyte infections.

2. Supporting policies favourable to animal lives. Misconstruction of zoophilic
   • 1987, Stephen R. L. Clark, The Monist‎^[3], volume 70, number 1, page 118:

     The notion that an ecosystem, or a species, is intrinsically valuable (apart from the enjoyments it provides to individuals) is one that zoophiles may dislike as much as libertarians (as Regan 1983). Spinoza, whose thought has been an inspiration both to environmentalists and to libertarians, was fiercely non-zoophile (Spinoza, Ethics 4p47sl; see Clark 1987).

See also

• zoophilist

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zɔ.ɔ.fil/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

zoophile (plural zoophiles)

1. zoophilic

Noun

zoophile m or f by sense (plural zoophiles)

1. zoophile

Further reading

• “zoophile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.