The Case Against Raising And Killing Animals For Food

Abstract

The important ethical view that one ought to live in such a way that one contributes as little as possible to the total amount of suffering in the world and as much as possible to the world’s total happiness is called utilitarianism. In this paper I develop the classical utilitarian argument against raising and killing animals for food. I then examine this position in light of several arguments which have recently been raised to show that utilitarianism permits this use of animals. Throughout the paper I refer to non-human animals as animals, and to human animals as humans. Although such usage suggests an elitism that might offend some humans, the substantive arguments in the paper are better expressed if we follow ordinary usage, however unenlightened it may be.