Before Dinner: Philosophy and Ethics of Food

ISBN-13: 9781402029929 / Angielski / Twarda / 2004 / 216 str.

Michiel Korthals

Opis

This book is an extensive, original and systematic treatment of many important philosophical and ethical aspects of food (consumption and production). May we eat just anything? Can we do everything with animals, even genetic modification? If not, how can we regulate those processes so that they lead to optimum animal welfare while at the same time producing optimum taste? The production of food also causes environmental pollution - does the fight against hunger have priority over the care of the environment? The care of the environment, animal welfare, and the quality of food should be in a certain harmony, but that is far from granted and hardly easy to achieve. These factors are often in conflict with each other, and a balance will thus need to be searched for. Other factors to take into consideration are the issue of global famine, the care for a farming class that is able to keep its head above water in a decent way, and a fair trade system that does not throw up unnecessary barriers for newcomers or small market participants and that promotes good nutrition. Famine continues to be a widespread phenomenon that violates human rights, causing nearly a billion people to suffer from hunger or malnutrition. At the same time, deliberate hunger, abundance, and obesity are prevalent in the Western world. Both issues refer to the social and cultural aspects of food. Scientific and technological developments like genetic modification and functional food also play an increasingly important role; almost every bite that we take is determined by scientific developments. An extra difficulty is that scientific information is often contradictory, or that it relies on statistical probabilities that are difficult to translate into everyday certitudes. All of these factors deserve attention, but it is the mix that is most important. In the land of food, 'either or' does not exist, only 'both and'. The adequate measure of 'both and' serves as the starting point for this philosophical reflection. Before Dinner is a must-read for all people interested in contemporary ethical issues of food, such as university students and researchers of food, agricultural and life sciences, as well as policymakers in these fields, such as members of professional organisations focusing on food and agriculture (f.e., EURSAFE (European Society for Agriculture and Food Ethics), the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (USA), and European Federation of Biotechnology).

Spis treści

List of tables and figures. Acknowledgment. Foreword. Chapter 1: Good food, good eating, good living. 1.1 How it all began. 1.2 What is the matter with our food? 1.3 The setup of this book. Chapter 2: What do philosophers say about nutrition? A brief history. 2.1 Production. 2.2 Consumption. 2.3 Conclusion. Chapter 3: Toward a philosophy of nutrition. 3.1 Esthetic, social, cultural, and moral functions of food. 3.2 You are not what you eat. Chapter 4: Modern and postmodern lifestyles and foodstyles. 4.1 Nature, risks, globalization, and individualization. 4.2 Late-modern lifestyles and foodstyles. Chapter 5: Ethics and politics of nutrition - liberal versus deliberative perspectives. 5.1 Autonomy and fairness versus identity in a community. 5.2 The neutral liberal perspective on autonomy. 5.3 Problems of the liberal approach. 5.4 The deliberative perspective on nutrition. 5.5 Toward non-neutral, impartial ethics and politics of nutrition. 5.6 Conclusion. Chapter 6: Living with ethical dilemmas. 6.1 Ethical dilemmas in agriculture and nutrition. 6.2 Three approaches in food ethics. 6.3 Deliberative ethics – debate, values, and trust. 6.4 Heuristic of ethical reasoning. 6.5 Conclusion. Chapter 7: Welfare of and respect for living beings. May we eat anything? 7.1 Plants. 7.2 Humans versus animals? Anthropocentrism, anthropomorphism, and zoocentrism. 7.3 Some of my best friends eat meat. Philosophers about eating meat. 7.4 Does keeping animals imply caring for them? 7.5 Justification for killing and eating farm animals. 7.6 Keeping cattle in large or small volumes. 7.7 The failure of agricultural expertise and the cost-benefit analysis in the foot-and-mouth disease crisis. 7.8 Conclusion. Chapter 8: Heaven or hell: scientific production and preparation of food. 8.1 Scientific production, cooking, and eating of food. 8.2 Great promises and the turnaround to Frankenfear. 8.3 Between food and drug – functional food. 8.4 Genomics and nutrigenomics. 8.5 A deliberativeand practical perspective – new practices and responsibilities. 8.6 How shall we feed ourselves in a technological culture? 8.7 Conclusion – Does food technology mean good living? Chapter 9: Globalization of the food production system. 9.1 Globalization and its discontents. 9.2 Trading in food – risks and culture. 9.3 Poverty and world hunger. 9.4 International democratic government structures and public forums. Chapter 10: Consumers, abundance, and responsibility. 10.1 Consumption or consumer society. 10.2 Where consumers stand – on the sideline. 10.3 Consumers, citizens, and markets. 10.4 Tastes – enjoying, feasting, and fasting. 10.5 Gluttony – sin or pleasure. 10.6 Individual rights and responsibility. Chapter 11: The future of nutrition and agriculture. 11.1 Three challenges. 11.2 Key ethical concepts. 11.3 The edible landscape in Europe and the rest of the world. 11.4 Conscious consumers. 11.5 The edible government. 11.6 Good living is eating with moral dilemmas. Appendix 1 Differences in Risk Perception and Views on Food Safety. Appendix 2 New Public Responsibilities for Food Scientists. Literature. About the author.

Blurb

This book is an extensive, original and systematic treatment of many important philosophical and ethical aspects of food (consumption and production). The care of the environment, animal welfare, and the quality of food should be in a certain harmony, but that is far from granted and hardly easy to achieve. These factors are often in conflict with each other, and a balance will thus need to be searched for.

Other factors to take into consideration are the issue of global famine, the care for a farming class that is able to keep its head above water in a decent way, and a fair trade system that does not throw up unnecessary barriers for newcomers or small market participants and that promotes good nutrition. Scientific and technological developments like genetic modification and functional food also play an increasingly important role; almost every bite that we take is determined by scientific developments. An extra difficulty is that scientific information is often contradictory, or that it relies on statistical probabilities that are difficult to translate into everyday certitudes.

All of these factors deserve attention, but it is the mix that is most important. In the land of food, ‘either or’ does not exist, only ‘both and’. The adequate measure of ‘both and’ serves as the starting point for this philosophical reflection.

 

Before Dinner is a must-read for all people interested in contemporary ethical issues of food, such as university students and researchers of food, agricultural and life sciences, as well as policymakers in these fields, such as members of professional organisations focusing on food and agriculture (f.e., EURSAFE (European Society for Agriculture and Food Ethics), the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society (USA), and European Federation of Biotechnology).