Abstract
Mill says that it is “better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied” (Mill, 1863). Is it? How does Mill know that? Maclver says this (1948, p. 65):
If I tread wantonly on a woodlouse, I do wrong . . . But it is only a very small wrong, and to exaggerate its wrongfulness is sentimentality . . . Little wrongs have to be done, in order that greater wrongs may be avoided. If I kill a Colorado beetle, I do wrong by the beetle; but, if I fail to kill it, I do wrong by all the growers and consumers of potatoes, and their interests are vastly more important.
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© 1983 The HUMANA Press Inc.
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Johnson, E. (1983). Life, Death, and Animals. In: Miller, H.B., Williams, W.H. (eds) Ethics and Animals. Contemporary Issues in Biomedicine, Ethics, and Society. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5623-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5623-6_8
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-053-4
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