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HUMANE MYTH
GLOSSARY:
Doctrine of necessary evil



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 HUMANE MYTH GLOSSARY
Abolition
Animal advocacy
Animal husbandry
Animal protection
Animal rights
Animal welfare
Animal welfare industrial complex
Animal-using industries
Co-option
Commodification
Conflict of Interest
Conscience
Conscientious objection
Critical thinking
Cruelty-free
Disillusionment
Doctrine of necessary evil
Happy Meat
Hogwashing
Humane myth
Humane slaughter
Neocarnism
Non-participation and Non-cooperation
Non-violent social change
Open Rescue
Path of Conscience
Plant-based diet
Privilege of domination
Speciesism
Suffering
Sustainable
Utilitarianism
Values-based activism
Vegan
 






Doctrine of necessary evil

Associated with the ends justify the means philosophy of Utilitarianism, this doctrine encompasses the idea that certain acts that we might normally consider to be inherently immoral actually become virtuous when the benefit gained by committing them is proportionally larger than the harm being done.

In recent years, some animal advocates have involved themselves in promoting the consumption of "humane" animal products, with the rationale that this activity, formerly considered by them to be immoral, becomes virtuous when it is done with the intent of displacing one form of animal abuse with a "kinder, gentler" form of that same abuse. For more information, see "Invasion of the Movement Snatchers: A social justice cause falls prey to the Doctrine of Necessary Evil."