- May be deemed too vague to provide guidance in every situation.
- Seeks to pursue what is best, but what is best is often notoriously unclear and subject to disagreements.
- Seeking what is best for everyone seems to depend on aiming for the best results, but that depends on predicting the future, and it is difficult to predict the future.
- Purports to present a view that is reasonable, but it is hard to prove anything absolutely in ethics.
- Best caring does not stop short at the species barrier, but implementing best caring for all sentient beings, including nonhuman animals, would be a very expensive business that would require extensive political, legal, and economic reorganization
- May conflict with established religious practices and scriptures, although perhaps not with the general ideals promoted by the great religions: pursuing what is best, being non-violent, justly consistent, honest in our examination of the facts and our ideas, and compassionate or averse to cruelty.
- Goes against “common sense” ways of regarding nonhuman animals.
- Affirms rights for sentient beings but it is unclear which beings are sentient. What about insects, worms, and shrimp?
For more on the best caring ethics in relation to animal rights, see “Extending Peace to Animals?” also featured on this website.
Perhaps we can live with these problems or be mindful of them as we try to grapple with the difficulties of the moral life, or perhaps not. It is up to each individual to decide for himself or herself, and to make up his or her own mind in the end.
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