Animal Ethics

APRIL 16, 2009

The overwhelming passage in November of Proposition 2 in California, which banned tight confinement of many of the animals raised for food, is a fine example of the power of publicity to educate people about the atrocities we commit to those animals who have no voice of their own. Animal agriculture is inherently inhumane.

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Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

A vegetarian of the first sort has no grounds for objecting to the eating of animals—molluscs for example—too rudimentary in their development to feel pain. Nor could he object to meat-eating if the slaughter were completely painless and the raising of animals at least as comfortable as life in the wild.

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Animal Ethics

JULY 15, 2008

Can you think of other such examples in the history of philosophy? John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) defended utilitarianism from the charge that, because it exalts pleasure, it is "a doctrine worthy only of swine." He also said that "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied."

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Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2007

To learn more about Arizona's precedent-setting victory for farm animals, see here. September 7, 2006, a bill banning the slaughter of horses for human consumption( H.R. There is no ethical justification for killing an animal for no good reason. News flash: Slaughtering horses does not promote their welfare.

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Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

Whereas those arguments maintain that grain-eating animals should not be slaughtered, this argument is at least consistent with the position that they should be: grain-eating animals, it might be maintained by a new moral vegetarian, should be slaughtered to prevent them from eating more grain and producing new grain-eating offspring.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Morals Meat Cattle 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2008

Even the most ardent defenders of the morality of using animals for food and as “tools” in scientific experiments admit that premises (1) and (2) are true and acknowledge that (1) and (2) capture something central to our moral relationship to animals. What’s good for us is good for the animals. Ethical synergy at work.

Vegetarian 40

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 23, 2006

Jonathan Hubbell, a philosophy major at the University of Texas at Arlington, is the newest member of the Animal Ethics blog, and once again, I would like to welcome him aboard. The question is not: "Is there any conceivable set of circumstances in which it would be permissible to eat meat?" Running time: 12 Minutes.

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