I basically agree with the core case for āanimal welfare offsettingā, and discuss some related ideas in Confessions of a Cheeseburger Ethicist. The main points of resistance Iād flag are just:
For some people, there may not be any ātradeoffā between going vegan and donating. If you can easily do both, all the better! So itās worth being clear that the argument isnāt really against veganism so much as against investing too much moral effort into becoming vegan (if it would require significant willpower).
As Jeff notes, there may be better second-order effects from going vegan. Presumably a sufficiently large extra donation could balance those out, but itās very hard to guess what would be sufficient. (I do think thereās also value to omnivores like us being public about valuing animal welfare and donating accordingly. That might help reach some different audiences, for example. But I still think itās worth esteeming veganism as a laudatory practice, even if it shouldnāt be everyoneās top priority.)
I basically agree with the core case for āanimal welfare offsettingā, and discuss some related ideas in Confessions of a Cheeseburger Ethicist. The main points of resistance Iād flag are just:
For some people, there may not be any ātradeoffā between going vegan and donating. If you can easily do both, all the better! So itās worth being clear that the argument isnāt really against veganism so much as against investing too much moral effort into becoming vegan (if it would require significant willpower).
As Jeff notes, there may be better second-order effects from going vegan. Presumably a sufficiently large extra donation could balance those out, but itās very hard to guess what would be sufficient. (I do think thereās also value to omnivores like us being public about valuing animal welfare and donating accordingly. That might help reach some different audiences, for example. But I still think itās worth esteeming veganism as a laudatory practice, even if it shouldnāt be everyoneās top priority.)