Abstract

Oscar de Beaux was professor of Zoology at Genova University and then director of Civil Museum of Natural History in the same town. The first contributions of de Beaux which included elements of biological ethics concerned the european bison of Bialowieza and the brown bear of the Alps between 1923–1929. In 1930 de Beaux published his most important study called “Biological ethics: an attempt to arouse a naturalistic conscience”, translated also in german (1932) and in english (1933). According to Oscar de Beaux, biological ethics is the study and definition of man's moral position before the living beings which do not belong to the humane race, beginning with the morale premise that man was not able to create the species. With these outlook, man takes on a decisively active and intelligent position regarding the problem of conserving nature and its resources; on the basis of this definition of morality man becomes the wise administrator of life on earth.