On 6/24/2010 8:58 AM, oxtail wrote:
> Fred C. Dobbs wrote:
>
>> All it means is wanting the animals to exist. If someone wants the
>> animals that ****wit wishes to eat to exist, then ****wit says the
>> person has "consideration for their lives". If someone doesn't want
>> those animals to exist, then ****wit shrieks they have "no consideration
>> for their lives", and he berates them for not wanting the animals to
>> exist.
>
>
> He might not be expressing it convincingly,

You can say that again. Never mind, I will: He isn't presenting it
convincingly.


> but he appears to be sincere

I think not. He blabbers quite often about animal welfare, but he has
written numerous things over the years indicating he doesn't really care
about animal welfare. I'll post those separately.



> the gist of what he is trying say is LoL
> that has support of several philosophers.
>
> "The Logic of the Larder""(LL): We do animals a favor
> by purchasing meat, eggs, and milk, for if we did not
> purchase these products, fewer animals would exist (Stephen, 1896).
> LL results from the common notion that the supply of farm animals
> roughly follows the demand for their products;
> and the less common notion that the world is made better off
> by having more animals in existence.
> Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics (2005) 18:
> GAVERICK MATHENY and KAI M. A. CHAN
> HUMAN DIETS AND ANIMAL WELFA THE ILLOGIC OF THE LARDER

Matheny is *disputing* the LoL, you idiot.

>
> It can be wrong,
> but it does not appear to be nonsensical to me.

It is nonsensical. Coming into existence is not a benefit. The
fundamental premise of LoL is that coming into existence *is* a benefit,
and clearly it is not. A benefit is something that improves the welfare
of the beneficiary, and clearly existence does not improve an entity's
welfare - it establishes it. If I take some wood and build a table, I
have not "improved" a table. It is immaterial if you think I have
"improved" the wood; the entity that has come into existence is the
table, and it was not improved upon by being built.

LoL is nonsense.