Analysis Of Peter Singer's Essay 'Animal Liberation'

Meat the Dilemma In Peter Singer’s essay Animal Liberation, examines the defense of animal rights by comparing animals and historically discriminated groups such as African Americans and women. He argues that under the principle of utilitarianism the discrimination of animals cannot be considered less important than that of African Americans and women. Utilitarianism suggests that when making decisions the entire population’s welfare must be taken into account so that every individual counts as one vote but no one’s vote counts more than another. This suggests that an individual must consider the interests of others before they make their decision so that every individual is guaranteed equal consideration before the decision is made. Peter Singer questions the process of how society …show more content…
Meat is essential to our current way of life and is the main source of nutrition in our diet. The industrial agricultural system produces the vast majority of all the food in the world. The human population is believed to reach 10 million by 2050, industrial agriculture is necessary to produce enough food for the ever booming population. Without many of the techniques utilized industrial agriculture would have a difficult time keeping up with productivity and supplying the human species with the food it needs to survive. While the practice of beak clipping is disgusting and immoral according to utilitarianism. It however is necessary to keep productivity at the levels needed to supply society’s demand for its meat intensive diet. However Peter singer is correct that animals deserve rights because they share common interests with humans although boycotting factory farming meat certainly won’t sustain society’s desire for a meat intensive