Why Is Factory Farming Wrong

Alistair Norcross believes that supporting the factory farming of meat as consumers is wrong. He uses the example of Fred, to further clarify his argument. Fred’s neighbors call the police because they hear terrible noises from Fred’s basement. The police come and see several mutilated animals specifically puppies in his basement. Fred is arrested. At his trial, Fred reveals that he hates torturing puppies however he suffered an accident which leaves him unable to taste chocolate anymore, the only way to satisfy his need for chocolate is to torture puppies. Fred tortures puppies to obtain cocoamoe, which Fred needs to enjoy the taste of chocolate. Norcross believes that there is no morally relevant difference between Fred’s actions and the actions of individuals that consume factory farmed meat.

There are several objections …show more content…
It’s not wrong to support factory farming. Therefore, it’s not wrong to torture puppies for gustatory pleasure. The Texan believes that there is no intrinsic difference between farm animals and puppies but argues that it is not morally wrong to support factory farming. According to the Texan, human satisfaction outweighs an animals’ dissatisfaction since humans are more intelligent and more rational than animals. However, Norcross addresses the fact that there are many marginal cases that make this statement controversial. He believes that whatever kind of rationality is chosen, it will either be lacking in some humans or presenting within some non-human animals. This is known as the challenge of marginal cases. For example, a severely disabled human and a very intelligent chimpanzee. If the severely disabled human were treated in a similar fashion as animals it would clearly be morally wrong. The same can pertain to babies. Babies are not rational, so babies are not morally relevant so we can torture them just as we can with the severely disabled person according to the Texan's