Assessment of Ethical Arguments
Social and Political Sciences
Directions
In Unit 7 we’re learning how to evaluate ethical arguments. In discussion this week, you will practice the important skill of treating like cases alike. This does not assume that you will agree that the cases presented below are indeed alike. Rather this is an opportunity to practice identifying whether the ethically relevant features of a case are indeed alike.
Philosopher Colin McGinn uses a thought-experiment, or made up case like Thomson’s Unconscious Violinist, to raise questions about how humans treat animals. He asks us to imagine a society where vampires breed and confine humans so they can drink human blood. These vampires could live equally well on a diet of orange juice but they strongly prefer the taste and variety of human blood. An individual human being can be used for three “drinking sessions” and then they die. So, in order to maintain a steady supply of human blood for their consumption, the vampires breed and store a huge supply of humans within a vast prison system. There are some vampires who argue that using and ultimately killing humans for their blood is morally wrong but the overwhelming majority of vampires disagree and defend the practice.
McGinn’s vampires offer three arguments for this conclusion:
The practice of breeding, intensively confining, and killing humans for food is morally justified…
because humans belong to a different species and look and act differently.
because vampires have been doing it for millennia.
because vampire life would be less enjoyable and too monotonous without human blood.
If you are like most people, you will not be convinced by the vampires’ arguments.
But do these three arguments work any better for this conclusion?
The practice of breeding, intensively confining, and killing animals for food is morally justified…
because animals belong to a different species and look and act differently.
because humans have been doing it for millennia.
because human life would be less enjoyable and too monotonous without animal flesh.
In your first post, discuss whether these arguments justify industrial meat production.
Assessment of Ethical Arguments
Ethical arguments looks at the magnitude of a decision made and measures positive benefits against the negative. Mc Ginn’s case of vampire fiction, he tells us to imagine of a society where vampires argue that practice of breeding, intensively confining, and killing humans for food is justified (Lavazza, A., & Garasic, M. 2020). The vampires often claim to be a developed form of life than humans are and that status gives them power to feed on humans.
The vampires not only need human blood but seem to have very strong urges to drink that blood. These desires are devastating and irresistible. Therefore, this act should not be justified, as moral .They are incapable of living with peace within the society. Although they may be more physically dominant than humans may, let us not forget that humans are smarter. Humans have developed modern civilization, whereas vampires act as parasites.
The practice of breeding, intensively confining and killing animals for food been argued and morally justified. These arguments do not justify the need to kill animals for food (Leroy, F., & Praet, I. (2017). Sometimes we find ourselves according animals’ strong moral status, while at other times we deny them any kind. Livestock farming contributes to land, water degradation and deforestation. Killing animals also causes unnecessary animal suffering.
In conclusion, industrial farming for meat production causes animals to suffer without proper justification. Utmost meat, eggs and dairy produced in ways that completely disregard animal welfare. Not only do animals suffer but also human beings. Consumption of meat especially red meat lead to poor health outcomes such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and various cancers. Therefore, reducing consumption could offer significant public health benefits.
References
Lavazza, A., & Garasic, M. (2020). Vampires 2.0? The ethical quandaries of young blood infusion in the quest for eternal life. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 23, 421-432.
Leroy, F., & Praet, I. (2017). Animal killing and post domestic meat production. Journal of Agricultura l and Environmental Ethics, 30(1), 67-86.
