My Moral Capcity or Lack Thereof

Two and a half more hours of boredom.

I read some more of Singer’s book at lunch today. I must admit that I’m an old softy and that reading the part about calves raised for veal made my eyes water. I must also admit that I had no idea that it was a Wisconsin company that introduced modern veal-raising methods to this country in the early 1960s. Provimi, Inc. was headquartered in Watertown. As near as I can tell, they are no longer in business but there is a Provimi Road and the American Veal Association has an address on it. Singer makes a good case that the treatment of animals in factory farms is unethical and that eating products composed in part or in whole from animals from these farms is immoral. According to him, it’s a matter of speciesism, that is, humans tend to view humans as being inherently superior to non-human animals.

The thing that ran through my mind was this: Let’s grant Singer that factory farms are unethical and that eating food products from them is immoral. Let us also grant Singer that most people, at least in industrialized societies, are speciesists. What then are the effects? Well, besides the pain, suffering, and death of non-humans. What are the effects on us? Does eating Spam™ without regard to the plight of the animals whose flesh gets packed into the tins somehow degrade me, degrade my moral capacity?