Means to an end

If you missed the audio version of Vegan Outreach Starter Guide, you can find it here.

This week I’ve been thinking about a common talking point you hear among farmers. They say that they obviously care about their animals because happy animals produce higher quality meat. 

To me, this shows how little they value animals as individuals. It would be like saying I only keep my dog happy because it makes him easier to take care of. The reason I keep my dog happy is because…. I want him to be happy. Crazy, I know. 

Farmers only care about their animals as financial resources, and you can’t respect someone as an individual if you’re only thinking about the value they create for you. I remember reading an article about Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest philosophers of the 18th century, and he said:

“Act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means.”

In modern terms, this means that you shouldn’t treat people as a means to an end.

Here are some examples in everyday life:

• Doing something nice for your spouse only so they’ll “owe you one.”

• Kissing up to your boss (when you don’t actually respect them) so you’ll get a promotion.

• Buying someone a drink so they’ll be more likely to sleep with you.

According to Kant, all of the above actions are immoral. Unfortunately, Kant missed the bigger picture of extending this consideration to all sentient individuals, but I think that we should.

We should never use animals as a means to an end. 

Obviously non vegans use animals as a means to an end on a daily basis. They take the lives of animals for the end goal of eating a burger. They violate the reproductive autonomy of cows every time they consume dairy. There is no way to obtain animal products without viewing the animals as a means to an end. 

Every time you hear a farmer say “we love our animals,” remember that they’re still using them as a means to an end, and that’s wrong. If they truly loved their animals, they wouldn’t send them to slaughterhouses for financial gain. 

What I’m Watching: Avatar 2: The Way of Water

I know I’m a couple years late on this, but I put off watching it due to the length (3 hours!). I’d heard it has a pro vegan message, and I think it sort of does, but not as much as I’d hoped. There are scenes of the Navi fishing and the movie makes a clear distinction between animals that should not be killed and animals it’s okay to kill.  

I did love the part about whaling, which parallels what we used to do in our society. In the movie, the whales are highly intelligent and emotional (more so than the humans), but they have liquid in their brain that stops human aging, which means it’s worth 80 million dollars. In reality, whalers used to extract spermaceti, a waxy substance found in the brain of sperm whales, for use in cosmetics, textiles and candles. 

In fact, the only reason whaling stopped was because of the invention of kerosene. Once people no longer needed spermaceti, they realized how immoral whaling was. I hope something similar will happen with lab grown meat. When we can mimic the nutrition, texture, and price of animal based meat, people will (hopefully) start to see that what we’re doing to farmed animals has always been wrong. 

What I’m Reading: Compassion by the Pound

This book was recommended to me by students at the University of Chicago, and I must admit it’s different from what the title would have you believe. I thought it would be a case for veganism, but it’s actually an economic picture of the farmed animal debate. 

The authors look at the economics behind improving animal welfare, how much going vegan actually lowers demand for animal products, and if the public actually cares. I’ll admit it’s disheartening to see the surveys that show how little regard most people have for these animals. 

It is a bit outdated (13 years old), and I think the last decade has massively changed the conversation about animal rights, but it’s still a bleak picture. My other problem with this book is that it talks about animal welfare in terms of human utility, but discounts the interests of the animals themselves. 

The authors also make the case that giving animals a “good life” and killing them is better than if the animals had not existed. Obviously, I disagree with that sentiment. Would it be okay for me to shoot my dog in the head today? He’s 7 years old and he’s had a great life, but I’m willing to bet that even non vegans would have a problem with me doing that. 

If the authors want to say it’s okay to kill animals who have a good life, they will need to either agree that I can shoot my dog today, or demonstrate a morally relevant difference between dogs and pigs. I’m willing to bet they wouldn’t do either. 

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Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great week!

Natalie

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