5.4: Factory Farming vs. Vegetarianism vs. Veganism vs. “Humane” Animal Agriculture vs.??
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To return to the first Chapter, we can envision Regan’s “cat case” transformed into a fur-bearer and an animal farmed for food. Here are some of the options:
- Any (or almost any) use of those animals is morally permissible; there are no moral obligations to those animals.
- Seriously harming those animals (e.g., causing them pain and suffering, killing them, etc.) is morally permissible provided they are housed in comfortable cages.
- Seriously harming those animals is permissible provided they are housed in comfortable cages, treated gently and killed painlessly.
- Seriously harming those animals is typically morally wrong, even if they are housed in comfortable cages, treated gently and killed painlessly.
Option (3) is intended to be analogous to so-called “humane” animal farming and slaughter. While everyone agrees that this is better for animals than factory farming, the question still remains: is this treatment of animals is morally permissible or not? If something like option (4) is the most ethically defensible option, then (3) is not.