Just Fodder by Josh Milburn

Author:Josh Milburn [Milburn, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780228011354
Publisher: McGillQueensUP
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

A New Response to the Burger Vegan

We can see how an appeal to the doctrine of double effect is not, alone, a sufficient response to the burger vegan’s challenge if we shift perspective from considering what we should be eating/purchasing to thinking about the issue as a matter of collective decision-making, and especially if we think about this from the point of view of an animal thief.

A deeply philosophical field mouse might be prepared to accept that, if push came to shove, humans might owe a lot more to cattle than to her – that cattle have more to live for than mice (this supermouse presumably excepted), that humans have an obligation to feed those cattle they brought into the world more so than they have to feed her, that humans have a right to harvest crops for their own consumption, and so forth. She might also be able to accept that the doctrine of double effect means that, if there is a choice between deliberately killing a cow and incidentally killing a mouse, humans should choose to incidentally kill a mouse (all else equal). But all this, she might insist, is by the by. Surely, we should want to reach a situation in which we do not have to make these hard choices – in which we do not have to kill cattle or mice.

Cochrane, in his discussion of the burger vegan’s challenge, begins to point us in this direction. ‘Political communities’, he writes, ‘have an obligation to take greater steps to reduce the number of animals killed in the field’ (2012, 101). That this is an obligation of communities should be clear; there is little that individual consumers will be able to achieve in this area, and expecting farmers to shoulder the costs of these efforts would be unjust. Cochrane’s recommendations in this area are, however, underdeveloped. He calls for ‘more efficient land use, more efficient crop strains, more sophisticated fencing, more sophisticated scare tactics, and better management of overproduction’, which ‘would all serve to reduce the number of animal deaths caused by our agricultural practices’ (ibid.). He also points (101–2) to the need to include questions about human population growth in questions about animal death in arable agriculture. While this is not something I wish to discuss at any length, it is true that lowering the human population (or, indeed, the population of animals needing to be fed) could help to lower the deaths of animals in arable agriculture, and that harm to animals in arable agriculture could provide a case for limiting human (and animal) population growth.

Let us look to the practical suggestions about agricultural policy and practice that Cochrane offers. Improving land-use efficiency and developing crop strains that are more efficient are things that farmers (and society) already have a strong incentive to do. Increased land-use efficiency will save farmers money, help feed the world’s growing population, and free up land for other purposes. If it is the case that animals live in the same

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.