Koiboi26 12 day.ago

"Utilitarians offer a compelling argument for vegetarianism. However, I find that there is something fundamentally wrong with the utilitarian approach to animal ethics. Perhaps this extravagant analogy will help express my point. Utilitarianism reminds me of a joke. A biker, á la Easy Rider, travels with his inseparable companion dog. While on the road, they observe a moribund fawn. The biker’s attitude appears to be very compassionate: he pulls over to tend to the fawn and then says, “I can’t stand seeing you suffer.” He then draws his handgun and shoots the wounded fawn dead. Another time, he notices a car accident where a driver is still alive but in very bad condition. Again, he takes his gun and, reciting the same line, puts the man out of his misery. One day the biker himself has the misfortune of being t-boned by an inattentive driver. Waking after a short time in an unconscious state, he realizes that he has a few bruises but is not badly hurt, and he rejoices at the sight of his dog friend also having survived the accident. But when he notices that his dog is bleeding profusely, he gropes for his handgun and says, “I can’t stand seeing you suffer.” And just as he is about to pull the trigger, his dog shouts, “I’m not suffering! I’m not suffering!” -Carlo Alvaro