Ethics, Animals and Intensive Farming
Abstract
The principle of Equal Consideration of Interests ought to govern our treatment of animals. Instead, however, the current treatment of animals is dominated by speciesism, a prejudice against taking seriously the interests of beings who are not members of our species. This prejudice resembles other prejudices such as racism and sexism. The worst forms of speciesism can be seen in the intensive confinement facilities used in many countries to produce animal products, such as meat, milk and eggs. These systems of animal production cause severe suffering on a scale so large that it is barely comprehensible. Moreover, the production of animals in confinement does not increase the availability of food for humans – on the contrary, the system wastes the majority of the food value of the crops that we grow to feed the confined animals. To confine animals in these conditions is ethically indefensible and should be prohibited.