Chapter 5 - Killing Them Softly

Summary

The rise of humane slaughter and Peter Singer’s support for it have given rise to the view that Singer’s philosophy of animal liberation, rather than requiring veganism, entails only avoiding factory farmed meat. Proponents of this view cite passages in Singer’s work that suggest killing animals can be permissible when it is done painlessly, among other conditions. This reading of Singer raises the possibility that it is possible to endorse anti-speciesism and the equal consideration of interests and continue to eat animals. In evaluating this claim, I examine humane slaughter as it is actually practiced on chickens. I also examine a hypothetical ideal version that eliminates all suffering from the slaughter process. In doing so I distinguish two versions of Singer’s argument for animal liberation, one based on utilitarianism and the other on equal consideration, and argue that regardless of what version of humane slaughter we have in mind, actual or ideal, neither is justified by either of Singer’s arguments. The support Singer has offered for humane slaughter is therefore amore accurately viewed as a pragmatic effort to reduce the suffering of food animals rather than the outcome of applying Singer’s theory at an ideal level.