On The Animal Welfare Argument for Vegetarianism

* From guest blogger, Arden*

I found one objection to the argument from animal welfare to be quite interesting because it addresses the fact that the argument has a limited scope, and only shows that certain types of agricultural practices are ethically problematic.

The argument focuses particularly on industrialized farming, and does not discuss traditional herding, pasturing, or free-range animal agriculture. The argument states that we ought not eat meat in consideration to the large amount of suffering that it creates, however these practices mentioned above can be done in ways that are extremely considerate of animal welfare. In addition to these alternative practices of animal agriculture, the argument from animal welfare does not apply to hunting that is done in ways that minimize animal suffering or  to individuals who do not have easy access to nutritionally adequate non-meat diets.

I think that this displays an inconsistency in the animal welfare argument because it does not warrant that people ought not eat meat produced agriculturally. Instead, I believe that it validates the conclusion that people ought not eat meat produced by factory farms or Concentrated Feeding Operations.