Farming Animals in Extreme Poverty: A Problem for Anti-speciesists?

TL;DR

The paper explores whether farming animals in extreme poverty challenges the ethical stance of anti-speciesists who oppose animal farming.

Contribution

The paper introduces a trilemma that anti-speciesists face regarding animal farming in extreme poverty.

Findings

Anti-speciesists face a moral trilemma when considering animal farming in extreme poverty.

Accepting the practice may imply permissibility of farming humans under similar conditions.

The first two trilemma options are less problematic for anti-speciesists than initially thought.

Abstract

Some philosophers argue that animals shouldn’t be given less moral consideration simply on the basis of their species membership. These “anti-speciesists” argue that many common practices involving animals are morally objectionable, animal agriculture being one of their most common targets. However, it is questionable whether the same objections apply to those who farm animals in extreme poverty. Anti-speciesists tend to accept such a practice, arguing that it is permissible because it may be necessary for meeting the basic needs of those who engage in it. I argue that, despite the argument’s intuitiveness, it may be problematic for those who think humans and animals deserve similar levels of moral consideration. In particular, it forces the anti-speciesist into a trilemma: they can either accept the permissibility of farming animals in extreme poverty while also conceding that it would be permissible to farm and kill humans in certain circumstances, reject the permissibility of farming animals in extreme poverty, or abandon the anti-speciesist position. I argue that the first two options are not as problematic for the anti-speciesist as they might first appear. For this reason, I argue, farming animals in extreme poverty does not present a (major) problem for anti-speciesists.