From a virtue ethical perspective probably indeed not unproblematic but other than that, I actually have the impression the core proposition isn’t entirely laughable.
If anyone wants to actually make this argument, I’m willing to hear it. But let’s be clear: the pretend-argument in the post is very disconnected from the reality of how welfare improvements actually happen (which is fine, given that it’s a parody!). To give just one example, it’s not the case that welfare studies happen ‘in the lab’ - they do happen on farms, but they are not typically conducted by the farmers. And if they were conducted by the farmers, people probably wouldn’t trust the studies.
Humor aside:
From a virtue ethical perspective probably indeed not unproblematic but other than that, I actually have the impression the core proposition isn’t entirely laughable.
If anyone wants to actually make this argument, I’m willing to hear it. But let’s be clear: the pretend-argument in the post is very disconnected from the reality of how welfare improvements actually happen (which is fine, given that it’s a parody!). To give just one example, it’s not the case that welfare studies happen ‘in the lab’ - they do happen on farms, but they are not typically conducted by the farmers. And if they were conducted by the farmers, people probably wouldn’t trust the studies.