Jaco de Swart

This chapter focuses on another threat that ecological restoration projects are facing, namely the threat to animal welfare and flourishing. It highlights virtue ethics as a promising alternative to the traditional animal welfare and animal rights approaches and discusses three theories within virtue ethics: The theory of Alasdair MacIntyre on the relationship between virtues and practices; the ethics of care of Carol Gilligan, Joan Toronto, and many others; and the capability approach of Martha Nussbaum.

The history of the dark matter problem can be traced back to at least the 1930s, but it was not until the early 1970s that the issue of ‘missing matter’ was widely recognized as problematic. In the latter period, previously separate issues involving missing mass were brought together in a single anomaly. We argue that reference to a straightforward accumulation of evidence alone is inadequate to comprehend this episode. Rather, the rise of cosmological research, the accompanying renewed interest in the theory of relativity and changes in the manpower division of astronomy in the 1960s are key to understanding how dark matter came to matter. At the same time, this story may also enlighten us on the methodological dimensions of past practices of physics and cosmology.