First published: 2013 Dec 15. Last nontrivial update: 2018 Jun 13.
Summary
The animal movement is doing important work to show people the importance of reducing the suffering of dogs, chickens, and lobsters at the hands of humans. However, many animal advocates also strongly defend wilderness, in spite of the immense amounts of animal suffering it contains. Some animal supporters are environmentalists because they think ecological preservation best advances animal welfare, while others hold an additional moral view that nature is intrinsically valuable. It’s troubling that spreading the animal movement risks creating more defenders of wilderness who may cause more animal suffering than they prevent. Plausibly the animal movement is still net positive, especially if future wisdom helps to correct its present oversights, but I think it’s safest if we push explicitly on the cause of reducing wild-animal suffering—both among animal activists and others who are open-minded.
Does the Animal-Rights Movement Encourage Wilderness Preservation?
Link post
This is a linkpost for Does the Animal-Rights Movement Encourage Wilderness Preservation? by Brian Tomasik. The summary, and table of contents are below.
First published: 2013 Dec 15. Last nontrivial update: 2018 Jun 13.
Summary
The animal movement is doing important work to show people the importance of reducing the suffering of dogs, chickens, and lobsters at the hands of humans. However, many animal advocates also strongly defend wilderness, in spite of the immense amounts of animal suffering it contains. Some animal supporters are environmentalists because they think ecological preservation best advances animal welfare, while others hold an additional moral view that nature is intrinsically valuable. It’s troubling that spreading the animal movement risks creating more defenders of wilderness who may cause more animal suffering than they prevent. Plausibly the animal movement is still net positive, especially if future wisdom helps to correct its present oversights, but I think it’s safest if we push explicitly on the cause of reducing wild-animal suffering—both among animal activists and others who are open-minded.
Contents
Summary
Epigraphs
Introduction
Humane moralism or deep ecology?
How concerning is this association?
Examples of animal advocates who support wilderness
Fraser (2012)
Should we worry about animal rights supporting wilderness?
What about spreading wildlife to space?
Animal welfare vs. animal rights
Wanted: A survey on animal rights and environmentalism
Pro-wilderness outcomes of a movement for wild-animal welfare?