A notional ethical contract with farm animals in a sustainable global food system.

Abstract

This chapter argues for a new ethical theory to inform and justify a continued use of animals in the global food system. It begins with a consideration of the utilitarian justifications for using animals as sources of food, as well as the attitudinal and legal justifications for animal use in agriculture. Utilitarian constrains on animal use in agriculture are then discussed, as well as economic and environmental constraints on modern animal production systems. A notional ethical contract with animals is then proposed. Given the co-evolution of humans and non-human animals, and the vital roles those animals we have domesticated could play in a humane, well-managed, sustainable food system, it is argued that there is a strong case for revising the basis of our continued relationship with them to one that is based on a notional contract: an arrangement by which animals continue to provide benefits to humans and the environment, but themselves live out better lives than they would in the wild.