Business failure in the use of animals: ethical issues and contestations

摘要

This article locates differing approaches in animal rights within the rights-based and utilitarian traditions, explores communitarian alternatives, and critically appraises the reasons why firms should take animal rights seriously. It is concluded that firms are unlikely to take either animal rights or broader environmental issues seriously in the absence of sustained consumer pressure and institutional mediation. However, this does not absolve managers from the need to make serious choices; laws may encourage managers to assume the moral high ground, but ethics are ultimately about decisions, actions and human choices.