Jeremy Bentham's Ethical Utilitarianism

Day in and day out, vicious and heinous crimes are being committed on factory farmed animals due to the demands of food from this obese generation of people. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 10.2 billion land animals were brought up and killed for food in the United States throughout 2010. Plus, per person, an American meat-consumer is responsible for the suffering and death of 28 land animals per year (“Number of”). Animals have little to no rights when it comes to protection than that of humans. Therefore, humans often do whatever they want to animals for meat—knowing that they will get away with it. Of the estimated 10.2 billion land animals killed in 2010, roughly 91% were chickens raised for meat; this just goes …show more content…
It was not until the 1800s where the respect for animal rights had grew due to the influence of Jeremy Bentham; who helped changed the minds of people towards their views and treatment of animals. He had made a case for his perspective on this particular issue by implementing his ethical utilitarianism to animals—and his definition of utilitarianism is “the greatest happiness or greatest felicity principle” (Nietzche 1). Bentham furthers his argument when he made the claim that “our laws should grant animals the right not to be inflicted with suffering” (Fieser 1). This society has come to a point where most people have become blind to the constant pain and struggles that animals have to go through on an everyday basis. From one great mind to another—Peter Singer had and has continued to advocate on the issues of animal rights, animal feeding operations and animals in research through his talks at various different universities and also his website. Many of what Peter Singer mentions throughout his argument I agree to a certain extent. The agreement lies upon Singers strong remarks towards animal experimentation and how negative it has been, but through the mist of this, I would still have to say that, although these experiments have been cruel in …show more content…
With his background at a philosophical standpoint, he states that “because animals suffer, their happiness and wellbeing is relevant and that it is the capacity of suffering that gives all sentient beings the right to equal consideration” (Nietzsche 1) and also how there has been such “disregard for animal suffering is similar to the disregard that people in some countries have for the suffering of slaves” (Fieser 1). Looking back at history, people had considered slaves as property and did not look at them as though they were human beings. The same goes for animals, owners and people in general use them for the benefits that they present such as security and comfort, but once they do not follow orders; they become victims of abuse and a multitude of heinous crimes. Abuse and intolerable acts are committed not only in the United States but around the world—mainly due to the profits that are gained from it. Example being, in the United States, buffalos and cows are constantly being killed for their meat because of how today’s society is shaping up to be with fast food restaurants around every corner that rely heavily