You assume here that other wild animals have net-positive lives. It is also possible from a utilitarian viewpoint that their lives are net-negative, or that their lives are neutral since they lack conscioussness. I don’t think there is any way, even in principle, of knowing which is true. I do feel comfortable saying however that humans are both more intrinsically valuable than other animals, and have a higher potential to live a good life than other animals.
It is definitely possible to reach the utilitarian conclusion that the extinction of humanity would be good because of our impact on other animals, but I don’t think a utilitarian has to reach that conclusion. I think it is one of several issues where a utilitarian has to make some arbitrary choice of auxillary hypothesis if he wants to get clear utilitarian answer.
Personally I am not a utilitarian. I value animals to some extent: I would love to see an end to factory farming, and in the future want us to spend som resources helping wild animals (in ways that seem unlikely to do harm whether you think their lives are net-positive or net-negative.) But I am not willing to value them above humanity.
You assume here that other wild animals have net-positive lives. It is also possible from a utilitarian viewpoint that their lives are net-negative, or that their lives are neutral since they lack conscioussness. I don’t think there is any way, even in principle, of knowing which is true. I do feel comfortable saying however that humans are both more intrinsically valuable than other animals, and have a higher potential to live a good life than other animals.
It is definitely possible to reach the utilitarian conclusion that the extinction of humanity would be good because of our impact on other animals, but I don’t think a utilitarian has to reach that conclusion. I think it is one of several issues where a utilitarian has to make some arbitrary choice of auxillary hypothesis if he wants to get clear utilitarian answer.
Personally I am not a utilitarian. I value animals to some extent: I would love to see an end to factory farming, and in the future want us to spend som resources helping wild animals (in ways that seem unlikely to do harm whether you think their lives are net-positive or net-negative.) But I am not willing to value them above humanity.