On the moral acceptability of killing animals

Abstract

According to a “rights view” it is acceptable to kill animals if they are innocent threats or shields or are in a “lifeboat situation.” However, according to advocates of such a view, our practices of killing animals for food or scientific research may be morally unacceptable. In this paper we argue that, even if we grant the basic assumptions of a rights view, a good deal of killing of animals for food and scientific research continues to be morally acceptable.