Ethics and meat consumption | DW Documentary



Are we really so different from the farm animals we eat? Philosophical thought experiments elucidate this question, bringing together the differing perspectives of philosophers and researchers, along with entertaining animations.

Peter Singer, Professor of Ethics at Princeton University, is seen as the philosophical father of the contemporary animal rights movement. Based on the philosophy of utilitarianism, the doctrine that sees the basis of moral behavior in the utilitarian, he convincingly explains why we need to consider the interests and feelings of animals in our views on meat consumption just as much as those of other humans.

But what do animals really feel? Sara Hintze is an animal welfare researcher at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. She studies the emotions of farm animals. Touching footage from her lab shows young fattening pigs displaying astonishingly human-like behavior in psychological experiments.

How do we know that animals feel, but that plants do not? Evolutionary biologist Jon Mallatt is concerned with precisely this boundary between the conscious and the unconscious world. He takes viewers on a journey 500 million years back in time, and explains why animals began to develop the first feelings.

Finally, we hear from Dan Shahar, one of the few philosophers to present an ethical defense of the consumption of meat. His arguments donโ€™t gloss over the realities of livestock farming, but pose the question: what moral demands do we want to make on ourselves?

โ€˜The Great Meat Debateโ€™ (5-part documentary series):
Part 1: Factory farming, animal welfare and the future of modern agriculture โ€“ https://youtu.be/6VOqNVt_cmM
Part 2: Do we need to eat meat? โ€“ https://youtu.be/hKs7fidCWMA
Part 3: Ethics and meat consumption โ€“ https://youtu.be/eF9sqj6CfG4
Part 4: The world of meat substitutes โ€“ [Coming soon]
Part 5: A vegan lifestyle: Is it the future? โ€“ [Coming soon]

#documentary #dwdocumentary #meat
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47 thoughts on “Ethics and meat consumption | DW Documentary”

  1. I eat meat and doubt that I will ever be a vegetarian, however…There is another point that should be made here: Ethics towards the environment (knowing that meat production requires intensive use of land, water and natural resources in general). Thank you DW for your great docs. Cheers!

    Reply
  2. ohhhhhh mannnn, here we go again. what has meat done to dw. no matter what we gonna keep eating meat till thy Kingdom come even at the cost of climate change.
    next y'all should give animals social security and welfare too then we gonna treat them otherwise untill then, they are nothing but food for me and my fellow meat eaters.

    Reply
  3. Thanks for the content. I'm omnivore and I'm going to the graveyard as a meat eater (unless it's too expensive, I don't buy high cost food). But I consider valid to think and question why we do, say and eat things in our life as defender of the critical sense.
    Nowadays I wouldn't force my kids to eat meat if they don't desire , mch less censor them being presented to vegetarianism/veganism content. I believe the new generations that are coming in stable countries will be way more aware of their consuming when it comes to this specific subject. I wish you all a healthy life

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  4. 24:50 This is just wrong. All currently extant species are arguably equally 'successful' or good at escaping predators. Why would a bee, who demonstrably plays with objects for fun, not have emotions like some vertebrate? What do we know about the inner world of cephalopods?
    More basic than that: why should we care about minimizing bad emotions?

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  5. I'm from Colombia, I live in the countryside. I can say here almost no one is vegetarian, I pray someday I become the first one, or the last; it doesn't matter. Just not participate in the suffering of any animal with the ability to feel pain

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  6. There's chain reaction for a change. I was the first vegetarian in my family at the age of 15, then my aunt became vegetarian, then my father, a brother, a sister, a causin sister, one of my niece and list is coming gradually. Nobody forced them to become but they got inspired and their compassion woke up.

    Edit : only through understanding other's suffering, altruism, moral ethic and compassion can bring vegan or vegetarianism into world. 5% do that due to health consciousness.

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  7. Why should I care what animals feel ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ? Do animals know how I feel after eating them ? No !

    Reply
  8. All of this doc got me quite hungry…. let's go and eat some red meat ! The rest of you that want to eat grains and vegetables go ahead and leave us alone with our #1 food animal protein with animal fat!

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  9. Socrates fight to bring us, a society where we can analyze and build something better for all of us. Unfortunately, sophism continues to win this battle. The documentary was excellent and obvious to me the first minutes explain all. I suggest everyone who cares about animals reflect in truth. Who you are? Looks like simple questions, but if your pursuit the truth to answer, and analyze the words that you choose to explain, you will see that can be deeper, and not superficial as a sophist society teach you to be.

    Reply
  10. You guys really did that last guy (Dan Shahar) dirty by attempting to draw parallels between his reasoning and that extreme paedophile example. Classic Straw man fallacy

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  11. But it is animals that use us for food, shelter, reproduction, disease treatment etc. Their death which is eventual for all species is just the price they have to pay. I mean animal numbers would decrease substantially if we all became vegetarians. What if the whole system we have is just an evolutionary response for survival of both animal and human species. What if animal responses such as fattening, flavorful meat and fast growth are mechanisms to make each species more attractive to humans hence giving them a higher chance of survival and continuity. Everyone should be able to look at the issue from this perspective.

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  12. I do not oppose the idea of vegetarians, but animals do not have a mind, and when they give birth, they give birth to many twins from 4-7, mercy and provision from God for us I will be with you if you find another job for her on earth The topic speaks of its equality, and it is animals that grow up if we do not slaughter them, they grow up and die
    But Human grows up to develop the land and build it. Development takes place with Human, but animals do not If you hit one of the animals that we eat for another way, a benefit other than this, another goal, the issue will be completely different. And it's true we have to protect our animals โคโ€๐Ÿฉน

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  13. nothing, they feel nothing and we love eating meat. You can eat your crickets if you prefer. I'll eat what people have been eating for thousands of years. And that's OK!

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  14. What if the tomato and onion think about the same when we try to eat them.. I am vegetarian but some how the logic does not fit together. So are we grouping what does not have nervous system does not have emotion like the way we use to and therefore it is okay to eat those because we do not understand their system

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  15. What a load of bullshit๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚. I have lived in a farm my whole life and pigs can be just as smart as a dog. Doesnโ€™t change the fact they taste good.

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  16. I am glad the series is not over. This film ends on the matter of 'taste' – and this is so huge a point that surely the next program will be looking at 'alternative proteins' – the growing investment into the development of lab-grown meat, harming no animal at all. I envisage a world where there are two markets for meat – one which grants animals an outdoor life, as close to their natural beings as possible, for as long as possible, and a very humane slaughter process. That meat will cost its true price. It will not be cheap. And the other market will be lab-grown meat which tastes as near as damn it as good as natural meat but is much cheaper. It will not be the same as what I call 'humane meat' – the real thing – but it will be very acceptable for many of us to have that special taste which a vegetarian diet just cannot provide. It's great to be able to mix meat and veg!

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  17. women..they want men to treat them right but a lower being in the hierarchy and tables are turned.๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿ˜ฎ. Hypocrisy. ๐Ÿ‘น๐Ÿ‘น๐Ÿ‘น๐Ÿ‘น

    Reply
  18. 26:40 this man is joke. living on million dollar house and making law for poor animals ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜…. When politician takes away tax. same people will cry like a baby.โ˜น๏ธโ˜น๏ธ

    Reply

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