Animals, Atrocity, and Trivialization

Abstract

Abstract Many philosophers have said that atrocities are being committed against animals, particularly in industrialized rearing and slaughter. But they have made little of this powerful description. This paper argues that atrocities call for a different response than minor wrongs or evils, including that one should not trivialize them. The paper offers a new framework for understanding the trivialization of atrocities against animals and discusses the moral difficulties that trivialization raises, in part because it is not always easy to avoid. It concludes discussing how animal advocates can avoid and challenge trivialization.