Philosophy Commons^™

Against Eating Humanely-Raised Meat: Revisiting Fred’S Basement, Jonathan Spelman

Philosophy and Religion Faculty Scholarship

In “Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases,” Alastair Norcross uses a thought experiment he calls “Fred’s Basement” to argue that consuming factory-farmed meat is morally equivalent to torturing and killing puppies to enjoy the taste of chocolate. Thus, he concludes that consuming factory-farmed meat is morally wrong. Although Norcross leaves open the possibility that consuming humanely-raised meat is permissible, I contend that his basic argumentative approach rules it out. In this paper, then, I extend Norcross’ thought experiment in hopes of convincing readers that consuming humanely-raised meat is morally wrong.