Peter Singer on Eating Ethics

Bioethics & Animals (Spring 2013)Laura Guidry-Grimes

Review: Peter SingerProfessor of Bioethics, Princeton UniversityAct-utilitarian

An act is right only insofar as it maximizes net utility (happiness over suffering)

Analyze the act directly (as opposed to rule-utilitarianism)

Principle of equal consideration: Give equal consideration to comparable interests

Photo: Denise Applewhite/Princeton University

How Does Singer Eat?“I’ve been a vegetarian since 1971. I’ve gradually

become increasingly vegan. I am largely vegan but I’m a flexible vegan. I don’t go to the supermarket and buy non-vegan stuff for myself. But when I’m traveling or going to other people’s places I will be quite happy to eat

vegetarian rather than vegan” (Interview in Mother Jones)

Utilitarianism as a Basis for Vegetarianism

“Whether we ought to be vegetarian depends on a lot of facts about the situation in which we find ourselves” (327)

Focus on severe suffering of billions from factory farmingFundamental interests of non-human animals and humans

at stake Non-human: extreme pain, confinement, stress, lack of

freedom, etc.

Human: pollution, climate change, exploitation of workers, inability to feed the world’s poor

Weighing the Costs & Benefits:Abolishing Factory FarmsCosts

Some pleasures of tasteOnce-only financial costs of transition

BenefitsEliminate unnecessary suffering and wasteHealthIncreased food supply overall (when replace

with cropland)Gradual change, phasing out of factory farming is the best hope.

Strongest Arguments in Favor of

Factory Farms – and Singer’s ResponsesCan help ameliorate hunger in developing countries

Response: Industries cater to middle and upper class; good health possible with low meat intake

Cropland will lead to more animal deaths than farmlandResponse: When we adjust for amount of food produced per acre,

far fewer animals are killed on cropland.These animals would not exist were we not breeding

them for meat and meat products.Response 1: If land were left to go wild, the total number of

unconfined animals in existence would increase.

Response 2: The lives of factory farm animals are not worth living now.

From The Ethics of What We Eat

Possibility for Morally Acceptable Meat-Eating?

All of these conditions must be met:1. Animals are raised on land that cannot

be used for crops.

2. The animals have good lives.

3. The animals would otherwise not exist.

From The Ethics of What We Eat

Personal Responsibility?Factory farming might be evil…but why should I change my

eating habits?Remember: Stuart Rachels considers the same question.

Some threshold of meat consumption determines how many factory farms will be in existence

Vegetarianism “as something which ‘underpins, makes consistent, and gives meaning to all our other activities on behalf of animals’” (336)Should be in combination with other active forms of advocacy

Humanely Raised, Vegan, or Vegetarian?Humanely Raised?

Sliding worry: “as long as we continue to eat animals there is a danger of our sliding back into the methods of treating animals in use today” (332)

Transparency problem (hard to discern which meat is from humanely raised animals)

Better uses for land

Vegetarian?Cannot have laying hens without male chickens, which are killed once they

have been sexed

Vegan?Still part of consumer chain…but best option

Supplemented with passages from The Ethics of What We Eat

Paris ExemptionPossible exemption: A vegan is permitted to eat whatever

he/she wants when in an extraordinary restaurant.Derives from Christian Science Monitor article about Daren

Firestone’s eating ethics.Singer’s response:

Not concerned about “trivial infractions”

Should consider how much support is being given to factory farms with these exceptions

Occasional self-indulgence can help someone’s faithfulness to veganism

Source of significant disagreement between Singer and ReganFrom The Ethics of What

We Eat

Discussion QuestionsDo you think that utilitarianism provides a

strong enough philosophical basis for being vegan or vegetarian?

Has Peter Singer adequately refuted the strongest arguments in favor of factory farming?

What do you think of the Paris exemption?What is potentially problematic about being

flexible with a vegan/vegetarian diet?

Additional Sources“Chew the Right Thing” –Interview with Peter Singer:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2006/05/chew-right-thing

The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer & Jim Mason

Intelligence Squared– Full debate on eating ethics (includes Peter Singer): http://youtu.be/mNED7GJLY7I

Peter Singer on utilitarian.net (includes extensive list of resources written by and about Singer’s work): http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/

“A New Year of Hope for Animals” (2013) by Peter Singer: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/progress-on-animal-rights-in-the-europe-and-the-us-by-peter-singer

Questions? Comments?