Philosopher David Sztybel: Use Not Treatment: Francione's Cracked Nutshell

[Spencer Lo]

In a blog entry, Francione wrote the following:

As long as we think the issue is the treatment of animals, we will seek to make that treatment more “humane.” But because animals are property, that goal is unreachable as a practical matter. The treatment of animals will always constitute torture under the most “humane” circumstances. And the “treatment” (or welfarist) approach ignores that it is morally wrong to kill animals even if we treat them “humanely,” which we cannot do anyway. Welfare “reforms” not only fail to provide any significant protection for animals; such reforms actually make matters worse because they encourage the public to feel more comfortable about animal exploitation and to continue to consume animals and animal products. The problem is use, not treatment. The goal is to abolish animal use, not to regulate treatment. The means to the goal? Go vegan and educate others about veganism.

David Styzbel responds here: http://davidsztybel.blogspot.ca/2012/10/use-not-treatment-francione...

[Carolyn Bailey]

Welfare “reforms” not only fail to provide any significant protection for animals; such reforms actually make matters worse because they encourage the public to feel more comfortable about animal exploitation and to continue to consume animals and animal products.

 

This statement is a confusion of theory and fact - something that is easy to do when we believe that we've found THE answer to a certain problem. I think that when we believe there is any one answer to any one problem, we are not understanding the problem to begin with - a mistake Gary Francione makes often. 

The problem is use, not treatment. The goal is to abolish animal use, not to regulate treatment. The means to the goal? Go vegan and educate others about veganism.

Despite the obvious mistake of assuming a theory is fact here, again, I agree with the opinion of the author. However, I think that we should be exploring just what "educate others about veganism" means in the real world, and the best ways of achieving that.