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Summary Of Consider The Lobster

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Paper #1 In the essay “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace, the author present “preference” and its application in ethical practices on the topic of boiling lobsters. The author argues that there is a correlation between preference and pain that drives morality. Wallace’s arguments are supported by personal accounts and factual evidence taken from scientific studies. The clinical facts offers a background analysis on the lobster; while the personal accounts queries lobster as sentient beings. The use of factual evidence, emotional appeal aided by evidence from the text, presents a cohesive argument on preference and it’s relation to empathy and/or torture. The crucial mitigating factor Wallace emphasize on the morality of …show more content…

Ethics can be based off of preference on this topic by acknowledging that lobsters are sentient beings and that humans should have “the willingness to exert personal agency and accept responsibility”(Wallace 6) if they partake in the practice of boiling lobsters. Another step towards a moral and ethical practice is trying to understand why humans disconnect and dissociate themselves from the similarities found in other species. It is acknowledged that the “clacking” of lobsters in a boiling pot are indications of pain, but there are prolong and complicated effort to reach this answer. This difficulty stems from the fact that lobsters are not place on the same level of importance. The author states, “I have not succeeded in working out any sort of personal ethical system in which the belief is truly defensible instead of selfishly convenient.” This evidence suggest the imposed notion that lobsters are unable to feel pain may have been justification to lessen the moral guilt of killing

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