Animal Ethics

JANUARY 24, 2008

Not all meat eaters are cold, cruel, selfish individuals insensitive to animal suffering. Many, if not most, of the meat eaters I know are deeply concerned about the fact that the animals they eat are raised in factory farm conditions. They realize that factory farming is inhumane.

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 4, 2006

If organically raised fish suffer less than nonorganically raised fish, it is an accident, morally speaking. I'm not saying that there is no correlation between an animal being organically raised and it being treated in a morally permissible way; I'm saying that any such correlation is contingent rather than necessary.

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Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

If our liking for meat is in fact more intense than our revulsion at the suffering endured on factory farms, then we are going to remain meat-eaters, with the result that, if the vegetarian has grounded his case in an appeal to our feelings, then that case is in jeopardy.

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Animal Ethics

MARCH 8, 2009

But keep in mind that many lactovo vegetarians care about how animal products are produced, not just the fact that they are animal products. These people abstain from eggs and dairy products the production of which involves suffering for the animals. The same would be true of Martin’s hypothetical animal legs.

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Animal Ethics

AUGUST 22, 2007

Though it may be too late for too many, we can only hope that diseased animals are not left in pain but are humanely euthanized to end their suffering. In 2005, a survey commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare showed that the Chinese are similar to Americans in their concern for animals.

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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

JUNE 17, 2011

If meat-eating should ever become confined to those who do not care about animal suffering then compassionate farming would cease. All animals would be kept in battery conditions and the righteous vegetarians would exert no economic pressure on farmers to change their ways.

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 21, 2009

Since animals cannot be judged morally praiseworthy or blameworthy, the question of whether it is morally wrong for them to eat meat cannot be raised. Although animals may be free from blame in eating meat since they are not moral agents, animals in eating meat may still be doing something that is prima facie wrong.

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Animal Ethics

AUGUST 2, 2008

Kristof’s thoughtful exploration of animal rights, I was astonished to read that he continues to eat animals, like geese and pigs, for which he obviously has such affection and respect. Doesn’t he realize that he does not have to engage in this voluntary activity, which causes moral conflict for himself and suffering for the animals?

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Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2007

The proposition outlaws raising pregnant sows in gestation crates and raising calves in veal crates , making Arizona the first state in the Union to ban veal crates. To learn more about Arizona's precedent-setting victory for farm animals, see here. There is no ethical justification for killing an animal for no good reason.

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Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Second, our food animals have co-evolved with us. Cows, domestic sheep, chickens and many others would not survive if they were not raised for human consumption, protected from malnutrition, disease and predators. He’s right: I don’t care deeply about the suffering of animals I eat, wear or otherwise benefit from.

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Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

But the method she advocates for reaching those goals—raising grass-eating, pasture-foraging farm animals—would appear to be notoriously difficult to reproduce on a scale large enough to harvest enough meat, at a reasonable cost, for all the people wanting to eat meat in this country, let alone the world. James Siegel Portland, Me.,

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 24, 2007

Most people are shocked and appalled when they first read descriptions of factory farming and learn about the horribly inhumane conditions in which the billions of animals destined for dinner tables are raised, and they are even more appalled when they first see documentary footage of the institutional cruelties inherent in factory farming.

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Animal Ethics

MAY 23, 2007

I’ll leave the question of infant care to the physicians, but I know firsthand that an adult vegan can enjoy robust physical health without contributing to the cruel suffering of animals on today’s factory farms. I’ve raised a vegan child since conception. Children need protein. George Mazzei St. Petersburg, Fla.,

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Animal Ethics

JANUARY 9, 2009

First, I will raise some questions that usually are not asked, let alone answered, by moral vegetarians. On the traditional position, justification of vegetarianism was in terms of animal welfare, happiness, rights, and so on. What seems to be absent in some recent vegetarian arguments, however, is any consideration of animals.

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Animal Ethics

JUNE 4, 2009

In fact, animals used for food do suffer a great deal. Not only are they killed in cruel ways, but it is well documented that they are raised in ways that cause them great discomfort and agony. Now there is no doubt that the actual treatment of animals used for food is immoral, that animals are made to suffer needlessly.

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Animal Ethics

MAY 6, 2009

The argument usually provided by vegetarians to fill the void created by the argument from speciesism is this: Animals are sentient creatures; they feel pain and have other feelings. Consequently, it is wrong to eat animals but not wrong to eat plants. Two questions can be raised about this argument from sentience. KBJ: Ditto.

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Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 15, 2006

If they are like most people, they believe that a world with less unnecessary suffering is intrinsically better than a world with more unnecessary suffering. Given that belief, they no doubt also believe that it is wrong to knowingly contribute to unnecessary suffering. It serves no significant human interest whatsoever.

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Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

The question can be raised: Why should these organisms be killed and others not be killed? And killing animals is wrong, since (1) killing involves inflicting pain and inflicting pain is wrong and (2) animals that have a self-concept have a right to life and killing animals with a right to life is wrong. KBJ: Ditto.

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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. Since it would not be wrong to eat the flesh of animals raised in that manner, eating meat is not morally wrong! [As

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