Better Off, But Still on the Farm

This book, valuable but intermittently irritating, appears to have been written by two distinct Bernard E. Rollin personalities. One of them is Bernard E. Rollin the meliorist philosopher. BER-MP (as I shall henceforth refer to him) became well known with Animal Rights and Human Morality (fIrSt edition 1981, second edition 1992). He is a meliorist rather than an abolitionist inasmuch as he believes that significant animal use, especially for food, is here to stay and need not be morally objectionable. He holds, however, that very much existing animal use fails to meet minimal moral standards. The lot of animals in human hands must be significantly ameliorated. Distinctive of the ethical analysis of BER-MP is the notion of an animal's telos, the complex ofdesires and behaviors or more generally of ways of being, of acting, and of relating to one's conspecifics, that are natural for a member of the species. To prevent an animal from living in accordance with its telos is to deprive it of a minimally decent life. So BER-MP's focus is not on welfare or suffering (though of course preventing natural behavior causes frustration, and pain and terror inhibit telic behavior). Neither is it on a general notion of inherent value or of rights to equal consideration. Animals must not be abused, and especially must not suffer the profound frustration ofbeing prevented from realizing their teloi. But there is no necessary incompatibility, BER-MP holds, between respecting an animal's telos and raising it for slaughter. The second author is Bernard E. Rollin the agribusiness tactician. I'll call him BER-AT. This personality doesn't seem to be a philosopher at all. He speaks the language of prudence, not that of duty. He has no views whatever about animal welfare. He's responsible for the 'social' in the book's subtitle. Consumers and voters, increasingly, are concerned about farm animal welfare as they perceive it. (Are they right? Are they wrong? BER-AT doesn't care-it's not his job.) BER-AT's job is to advise agribusiness about this threat to current and future profits. Worried about flooding? Build a levee and buy insurance. Worried about animal welfare concerns? Change some practices and fund some research. I've known BER-MP slightly, and his works extensively, for many years, and thought well of both. BER-AT, however, is new, at least to me and at least in the strength he has here.