The Ethical Dilemma of Factory Farming
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Authors
Scheck, Kyle
Issue Date
2025-04-03
Type
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Abstract
Description
Anthropocentrism is the philosophical belief that humans are the most valuable thing in the world, because everything of value in our world is caused by humans. Factory farming is a modern method of agriculture which provides American citizens with affordable food by prioritizing profits and efficiency, attempting to fulfill anthropocentrism by providing for humans by any means necessary. Affordable food produced by this industry is key for giving lower income populations access to food. However, byproducts of this industry raises numerous social, environmental, and ethical concerns. Factory farming contributes to climate change via methane emissions. Constant use of antibiotics on animals raises prices for regular consumers, threatening their health. Furthermore, factory farming exploits migrant, H2A, and undocumented workers by paying them low wages and exposing them to unsafe conditions. Exploiting these workers is the only reason why factory farming is economically viable. As a result of this exploitation, factory farming invalidates its argument of being anthropocentric; since consequences of long term factory farming ultimately harm vulnerable populations and future generations disproportionately. These presentations will compare the positives and negatives of factory farming as well as explore solutions for reducing its impact. Some of these solutions include pivoting from beef to chicken and pork as these are more climate friendly. Unfortunately, these changes would create economic uncertainty for lower income populations; however, these changes are inevitable. Due to the worsening climate, in part because of factory farming's contribution to climate change, our modern farming practices will become disrupted forcing similar adaptations on to our society anyways. Proactive adjustment to these incoming changes will allow our society a more comfortable shift into socially and environmentally friendly solutions.