Schillo K K
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40546-0215, USA.
J Anim Sci. 2003 Nov;81(11):2880-6. doi: 10.2527/2003.81112880x.
The American Society of Animal Science has recently focused its attention on a variety of contentious issues in animal agriculture. This paper deals with critique, a philosophical approach to analyzing and understanding issues. This method has been employed by various contemporary philosophers. For example, feminist theorists have used this approach to critically analyze sexual harassment. Critique involves a critical analysis of the discourse (ideas or language) and practices that define the social reality in which we live. How we think about the world and how we behave in it determines how we humans interact with each other as well as with the rest of nature. This social structure is associated with power structures that benefit some individuals and harm others. In this paper, I demonstrate how critique can be used to better understand the social reality of animal agriculture. By analyzing certain popular texts in this field, I show that a "mechanical view of nature" is dominant in animal agriculture and argue that such a view contributes to a social reality that can be harmful to some humans and other animals. I conclude that various contentious issues can be better addressed when we engage in a critical analysis of this conceptual framework and base our analysis on the experiences of many different people, including those who have been harmed by our current system of animal agriculture.
美国动物科学协会最近将注意力集中在畜牧业中的一系列有争议的问题上。本文探讨批判，这是一种分析和理解问题的哲学方法。这种方法已被当代各种哲学家所采用。例如，女权主义理论家已使用这种方法来批判性地分析性骚扰。批判涉及对界定我们所生活的社会现实的话语（观念或语言）及实践进行批判性分析。我们如何思考世界以及如何在其中行事，决定了我们人类彼此之间以及与自然界其他部分如何互动。这种社会结构与权力结构相关联，而权力结构使一些人受益，却伤害了另一些人。在本文中，我展示了批判如何能够用于更好地理解畜牧业的社会现实。通过分析该领域某些流行文本，我表明“机械自然观”在畜牧业中占主导地位，并认为这种观点促成了一种可能对一些人类和其他动物有害的社会现实。我得出结论，当我们对这个概念框架进行批判性分析，并将我们的分析建立在许多不同人的经历基础上，包括那些受到我们当前畜牧业体系伤害的人的经历时，各种有争议的问题能够得到更好的解决。
