Tobias Baumann suggests that expanding the moral circle to include non-human animals might be a credible longtermist intervention, as a good long-term future for all sentient beings may be unlikely as long as people think it is right to disregard the interests of animals for frivolous reasons such as the taste of meat. Non-human animals are moral patients that are essentially at our will, and it seems plausible that there are non-extinction attractor states for these animals.
I do think that this is all plausible. But I think people have sometimes jumped on this option too quickly, with too little critical consideration. See also this section of a post and this doc.
Also, I think “Non-human animals are moral patients” (emphasis added) is too strong; I’m not sure we should be practically certain that any nonhuman animals are moral patients, and I definitely don’t think we should be practically certain that all are (e.g., insects, crabs).
To be clear, I’m vegan, and broadly supportive of people focusing on animal welfare, and I think due to moral uncertainty / expected value society should pay far more attention to animals than it does. But I still think it’s quite unclear which animals are moral patients. And my impression is that people who’ve looked into this tend to feel roughly similar (see e.g. Muehlhauser’s report).
I do think that this is all plausible. But I think people have sometimes jumped on this option too quickly, with too little critical consideration. See also this section of a post and this doc.
Also, I think “Non-human animals are moral patients” (emphasis added) is too strong; I’m not sure we should be practically certain that any nonhuman animals are moral patients, and I definitely don’t think we should be practically certain that all are (e.g., insects, crabs).
To be clear, I’m vegan, and broadly supportive of people focusing on animal welfare, and I think due to moral uncertainty / expected value society should pay far more attention to animals than it does. But I still think it’s quite unclear which animals are moral patients. And my impression is that people who’ve looked into this tend to feel roughly similar (see e.g. Muehlhauser’s report).