Animal Ethics and Food Policy

Abstract

Animal ethics is a discipline of established significance in moral philosophy, but, recently, an increasing number of theorists have argued for further consideration and/or inclusion of non-human animals within recognisably political dialogue. As one of the primary ways that many people interact with animals of other species is through eating them, the significance of this so-called “political turn in animal liberation” to food policy is potentially vast. As such, urgent interdialogue between those concerned with food policy and those concerned with animal ethics is required, as well as an assessment of the ways in which different strands of animal ethics (such as utilitarian approaches, new welfarism, abolitionism, interest-rights approaches, feminist approaches) do, might and should interact with food policy. Non-human animals are affected in almost every area of food policy, and so the encounter between animal ethics and food policy is not limited to husbandry, fishing and hunting. Many animals are killed in arable agriculture, and so agricultural policy warrants critical attention in all its forms. Questions are also raised concerning international aid and sustainable development, and the extent to which non-human animal-derived foodstuffs can and should be involved in such practices. Furthermore, with increasing numbers of thinkers calling for veg(etari)an states, not least Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson in Zoopolis, there is also much room for theorising concerning how food policy would or could look in such a state. The possibility of non-human citizens also brings with it questions of how such citizens can or should be fed. This panel will explore these kinds of issues, drawing attention to the importance of food policy for animal ethicists and the importance of animal ethics for theorists of food policy.

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