So you’re saying that farming human infants can be ethically justified in contrived circumstances? I agree. But most people wouldn’t, which suggests that this might not be their true rejection. A continued practice of farming animals would send the wrong message to people who aren’t consequentialists, it would send the message that treating beings differently simply because of their species-membership is normal/okay, which could have very bad consequences for nonhumans in the long run.
But most people wouldn’t, which suggests that this might not be their true rejection.
If most people don’t agree with farming human infants, but they do agree with other things for which similar arguments can be made, that does not imply that their reasons for accepting the other things aren’t genuine. It may instead imply that their reasons for rejecting the farming of human infants aren’t genuine. Given the existence of powerful human instincts related to both infants and cannibalism, I find the latter explanation to be more likely than the former.
The question is not whether they themselves would farm the infants, but whether they see an ethical objection to doing it in hypothetical circumstances where those indirect reasons you mention are removed. Imagine we’d ask people the following question:
Suppose we discover an isolated island where the islanders farm infants and where the whole society is completely fine it. You have a magic button that could remodel the society in a way stopping that practice. All else would remain equal, i.e. no one on that island would become better or worse off because of the button. Would you push it or are you indifferent? And if you would push it, how much money would you be willing to pay for pushing it? Furthermore, we specify that after pushing or not pushing the button, you will forget about the island.
My guess is that people would pay money for this, which suggests that it’s not just their emotional dispositions that are responsible for their judgment but rather the underlying moral principles they are following.
Given the strong instinctual aversion to doing such things, anyone who is willing to do them probably has a brain malfunction. (Note that “believing they are ethical” is not the same as “willing to do them”.) Most people would consider an island whose inhabitants have brain malfunctions to be something to be stopped. And you can’t postulate a society of people who don’t have brain malfunctions and yet like to do such things unless they are not human.
Furthermore, most people asked such a thing will be unable to separate their instinctual reactions from ethical judgments. I suspect most people if told of an island where people eat shit, would be willing to make some non-zero expenditure to stop it. That doesn’t mean they’re basing their judgment on moral principles.
So you’re saying that farming human infants can be ethically justified in contrived circumstances? I agree. But most people wouldn’t, which suggests that this might not be their true rejection. A continued practice of farming animals would send the wrong message to people who aren’t consequentialists, it would send the message that treating beings differently simply because of their species-membership is normal/okay, which could have very bad consequences for nonhumans in the long run.
If most people don’t agree with farming human infants, but they do agree with other things for which similar arguments can be made, that does not imply that their reasons for accepting the other things aren’t genuine. It may instead imply that their reasons for rejecting the farming of human infants aren’t genuine. Given the existence of powerful human instincts related to both infants and cannibalism, I find the latter explanation to be more likely than the former.
The question is not whether they themselves would farm the infants, but whether they see an ethical objection to doing it in hypothetical circumstances where those indirect reasons you mention are removed. Imagine we’d ask people the following question:
Suppose we discover an isolated island where the islanders farm infants and where the whole society is completely fine it. You have a magic button that could remodel the society in a way stopping that practice. All else would remain equal, i.e. no one on that island would become better or worse off because of the button. Would you push it or are you indifferent? And if you would push it, how much money would you be willing to pay for pushing it? Furthermore, we specify that after pushing or not pushing the button, you will forget about the island.
My guess is that people would pay money for this, which suggests that it’s not just their emotional dispositions that are responsible for their judgment but rather the underlying moral principles they are following.
Given the strong instinctual aversion to doing such things, anyone who is willing to do them probably has a brain malfunction. (Note that “believing they are ethical” is not the same as “willing to do them”.) Most people would consider an island whose inhabitants have brain malfunctions to be something to be stopped. And you can’t postulate a society of people who don’t have brain malfunctions and yet like to do such things unless they are not human.
Furthermore, most people asked such a thing will be unable to separate their instinctual reactions from ethical judgments. I suspect most people if told of an island where people eat shit, would be willing to make some non-zero expenditure to stop it. That doesn’t mean they’re basing their judgment on moral principles.