49. Animal Ethics (with Dr. Heather Browning)

Tent Talks

In this episode of Tent Talks, I speak with Dr. Heather Browning about animal ethics. Dr. Browning received her PhD from the Australian National University in 2020 and is currently a postdoctoral research officer at the London School of Economics working as a part of the Foundations of animal Sentience Project. Dr. Browning and I discuss a variety of general topics in animal ethics as well as some specific papers that she has published on the subject. Some topics that we discuss include the distinction between the rights view and the utilitarian welfare view of animal ethics, vegetarianism and the horrors of factory farming, the question of where to draw the line on animal consciousness, the natural behavior criteria for animal welfare and why it is flawed, the question of whether management euthanasia promotes animal welfare within the context of zoos, and the question of whether de-extinction projects promote animal welfare. To learn more about Dr. Browning’s work, visit her website at the following link: https://www.heatherbrowning.net