ipl-logo

Review Of Professor Callicott's 'Animal Liberation: A Triangular Affair'

797 Words4 Pages

Environmentalists and Animal Liberationists - Who gets the last say on factory farming? In ‘Animal Liberation: A Triangular Affair’, Professor Callicott highlighted the close links between ecology and Environmental Ethics. Because of ecology’s holistic nature, Callicott insists that to resist the factory farming of animals alone is not enough; one must also resist factory farming in all its manifestations, even those of vegetable crops. Furthermore, Callicott also suggests that factory farming goes against Environmental Ethics on ecological and environmental grounds, and not on humane grounds such as those espoused by animal liberation. In this paper I will demonstrate why the Environmental Ethics argument against factory farming is flawed …show more content…

There are a multitude of reasons which animal liberationists provide against the practice of factory farming, but none of them are based upon descriptive examples in nature. As Callicott himself observed, they fall either into the Utilitarian school dating back to Bentham and Mill, or the deontological going back to Kant. They all seem to come from some principle or self evident truth which require no validation. Environmental Ethics, with its dependence on ecology, is experience dependent and can change depending on context. In other words, it is based on a posteriori concepts while animal liberation theories are based, or claim to be based, on a priori concepts. A priori concepts have the advantage of being irrefutable, and this generally means that there are a code of values which are always right and one just needs to understand, accept, and apply them to individual cases to have a practical effect. I must caution, however, that while the arguments against factory farming made on animal liberation grounds are based on assumptions which are taken to be a priori, this does not mean that they are in fact a priori. For instance, Singer’s claim of pain being the standard of good or evil (and making it appear as a priori) will not be accepted by Environmental Ethicists such as Callicott as a priori. This is due to the fact that Callicott views pain as having nothing to do with good or evil from an ecological

Show More
Related

The Carnivore's Dilemma By Nicolette Hahn Niman

699 Words | 3 Pages

The author's use of a compare/contrast structure and the appeal to ethos to support her claim was effective. However, her use of the hasty generalization and “Red Herring” fallacies caused the audience to doubt her claim, that meat from traditional farms was better for the environment, had sufficient evidence to

Read More

The Animals Practicing Complexity Analysis

315 Words | 2 Pages

Michael Pollan’s alternative to Factory farming has given a huge insight into a better ethics on food. In “The Animals: Practicing Complexity” Michael Pollan writes about a polyface farm and how it works. The goal of a polyface farm is to emotionally, economically, and environmentally enhance agriculture. Everything on a polyface farm has the potential to be helpful to something else on the farm. Pollan states “The chicken feed not only feeds the broilers but, transformed into chicken crap, feeds the grass that feeds the cows that, as I was about to see, feeds the pigs and the laying hens” (Pollan 345).

Read More

The Omnivore's Delusion Analysis

319 Words | 2 Pages

In the article, “The Omnivore’s Delusion” Blake Hurst expresses his idea that agri- intellectuals, people who claim that industrial farming is inhuman, have a warped perspective on the reality of modern day farming. Essentially, Hurst proposes that there are both positive and negative aspects to both industrial farming and organic farming. Hurst states that during organic farming when farmers do not use unnatural additives, the whole process becomes more troublesome due to the increase of molds, fungus, and bugs. The author writes, “… some of the largest farms in the country are organic—and are giant organizations dependent upon lots of hired stoop labor doing the most backbreaking of tasks in order to save the sensitive conscience of my fellow

Read More

Summary Of Jeremy Rifkin A Change Of Heart About Animals

2055 Words | 9 Pages

Although Jeremy Rifkin, Bob stevens, and Lois Frazier have all written about their view on animals and how they are treated globally, but when bringing in animal rights groups like ASPCA and PETA, different bias and tactics are newly introduced. Of all the articles, Jeremy Rifkin uses the most credible sources such as lab studies and examples. In the article “A Change of Heart about Animals” Rifkin uses sources such as Purdue University and the European union when talking about situations. One situation he writes about is how pigs need social activity so the pigs are not “lacking mental and physical stimuli [which] hand result in deterioration of health”.

Read More

Michael Pollan In The Omnivore's Dilemma

172 Words | 1 Pages

Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma demonstrates ethos states, “I finally had to conclude that Rosie the organic free-range chicken doesn’t really grok the whole free-range conceit” (172). Here, Michael Pollan uses a passive method to convey his ideas to the audience and allow them to think about and form their own opinions on his given ideas. He incorporates his own thoughts that he feels that the chickens cannot completely seem to grasp their environment and just live as they are told and raised to do. His personal experience of taking care of Rosie leaves him to realize that many corporations and companies only care for the rewards they receive for their work.

Read More

Rhetorical Strategies In Eating Animals By Jonathan Safran Foer

577 Words | 3 Pages

as an instance, Foer argues that if we agree with it is inaccurate to purpose pointless suffering to animals, we must not support an industry that is based on their exploitation. by way of appealing to our experience of right and wrong, Foer encourages readers to take a extra vital study their intake

Read More

A Rhetorical Analysis Of Factory Farming By Matthew Scully

1104 Words | 5 Pages

Scully writes: “Conservatives are supposed to revere tradition. Factory farming has no traditions, no rules, no codes of honor, no little decencies to spare for a fellow creature. The whole thing is an abandonment of rural values and a betrayal of honorable animal husbandry—to say nothing of veterinary medicine, with its sworn oath to “protect animal health” and to “relieve animal suffering.” (Scully, 161) As stated in the previous paragraph factory farming has no rules and no regulations thus giving the people in charge of these farms to have free realm over whatever they want to do. They based the treatment of animals on the ability to make a profit.

Read More

Comparing An Animals Place By Pollan And Hurst

1302 Words | 6 Pages

Pollan, however, believes that animal welfare should be espoused by allowing animals to live free-range and follow their natural instincts. Pollan and Hurst are also concerned with protecting the environment, but disagree on what the best avenue of protection is. Pollan believes that the environment would be better protected if animals were put back on farms and raised organically (370). Hurst believes that industrial farming practitioners are sufficient in their efforts to protect the environment because they are conscious of the effects industrial farming has on the environment, and they take steps to reduce the harm it could have on the environment, such as monitoring nitrogen levels. The authors, despite their differing views on the best way to accomplish their beliefs, successfully convey their

Read More

Disadvantages Of Factory Farming In The United States

1110 Words | 5 Pages

As defined by the Oxford Dictionary, “factory farming,” also referred to as “industrial farming,” is “a system of rearing livestock using intensive methods, by which poultry, pigs, or cattle are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions.” Contrary to what some animal activist groups might argue, there are indeed great benefits of factory farming, including the employment of around 700,000 full- and part-time workers in the US (“Factory Farm Workers”). Other benefits of factory farming that relate to the logos appeal include its cost efficiency (for both producers and consumers) and the innovation it allows for in the food industry. On the other hand, there are many logos-related disadvantages to industrial farming as well, including

Read More

Analysis Of Michael Pollan´s An Animal's Place

324 Words | 2 Pages

In An Animal’s Place, Michael Pollan describes the growing acknowledgement of animal rights, particularly America’s decision between vegetarianism and meat-eating. However, this growing sense of sentiment towards animals is coupled with a growing sense of brutality in farms and science labs. According to Pollan, the lacking respect for specific species of animals lies in the fact that they are absent from human’s everyday lives; enabling them to avoid acknowledgment of what they are doing when partaking in brutality towards animals. He presents arguments for why vegetarianism would make sense in certain instances and why it would not and ultimately lead to the decision of eating-meat while treating the animals fairly in the process. Pollan

Read More

Ethos And Pathos For Factory Farming

803 Words | 4 Pages

I chose to write about factory farming because I’m with familiar with it. Growing up on a 500-acre farm has given me the chance to scrutinize the importance that they are to our community. Throughout my childhood there was always fresh meat and vegetables on the table. When other families were worrying about the recent recall on the type of meat they had just purchased or the chemicals being sprayed onto their fruits and vegetable, I was left wondering why these other families just didn’t do as we did. Having your own family farm not only saves money that you would spend in the grocery store, but also allows for your family to bond over something that’s not on TV.

Read More

The Role Of Technology In The Civil War

307 Words | 2 Pages

Over the years, many changes have been made to further battlefield technology from the Revolutionary War to World War II completely revolutionizing the way in which battles are fought and it has changed and stretched our standards of what we consider ethical and acceptable. During the the Revolutionary War, the battlefield technology that we had included the Kentucky long rifle, flintlock muskets, the Brown Bess, the French Charleville musket, and cannons which used metal balls and grapeshot. However, the accuracy and the time it took to load some of the firearms at this time was far from today’s standards. Some of the new innovations during the Civil War, that radically changed the way the war was fought included hot air balloons, submarines,

Read More

Summary Of Cowspiracy

749 Words | 3 Pages

According to John McDonagh, the author mentioned that ‘our understanding of changing land use, ownership practices and exploitation of rural resources, ultimately determines how poverty, hunger, population growth and environmental issues are addressed (McDonagh 2014, pg. 838). I felt uncomfortable while viewing the data provided which clearly shows that most common food we consume daily is affecting our environment globally. I was stunned by the figures shown on the film and at the same time, having this deep thought about our environment, that almost half of the world is now covered with animal products being harvested for consumption. Looking at how the Earth’s population have grown at a faster rate for the past decades, we know for sure that we will need a lot of land as it is a basic necessity of life. However, I felt disheartened that this is not the practice in some countries because people have been forcibly displaced from their own land.

Read More

What Is Animal Cruelty In Elizabeth Costello's Essay

498 Words | 2 Pages

Although the thought of treating animals humanely is an agreeable argument to side by, Costello’s approach to the subject was incorrect. In my opinion, she fails to use fitting analogies to explain why factory

Read More

Persuasive Speech On Factory Farm

914 Words | 4 Pages

Factory farming is not a good thing because the animals suffer, the animals are treated with antibiotics, and factory farming affects the environment. The animals suffer because of the living conditions that they are in. The animals are treated with antibiotics that they don’t even need. The environment gets polluted with all of the manure. People should go and buy meat from the local meat market because those animals do not go through all the cruelty that they go through in factory

Read More

More about Review Of Professor Callicott's 'Animal Liberation: A Triangular Affair'

Related Topics

Open Document