#89 - Against Animal Domination | John Sanbonmatsu

#89 - Against Animal Domination | John Sanbonmatsu

From The Ethical Frontier by Jason Chen

March 16, 2026 · 1h 5m · Episode 87

About this episode

In this episode, John Sanbonmatsu discusses the moral implications of animal domination and the deceptions surrounding our relationship with animals.

You can support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/chenphilosophy John Sanbonmatsu is Professor of Philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. Website: https://www.johnsanbonmatsu.com/ Book: https://nyupress.org/9781479825967/the-omnivores-deception/ Summary:In this interview, we discuss three deceptions surrounding our relationship to animals. The first one is that we believe it's morally okay to dominate animals because it's natural. The second deception is that we can treat animals morally by utilizing small-scale farms instead of factory farms. And the third deception is self-deception. Specifically, we lie to ourselves and intentionally turn a blind eye to the suffering of animals so we don't have to confront the fact that eating meat is wrong.

People in this episode

Host: Jason Chen

Guest: John Sanbonmatsu

Topics covered

  • animal ethics
  • philosophy
  • deception
  • meat consumption
  • animal rights

Keywords

  • animal domination
  • moral ethics
  • factory farms
  • small-scale farms
  • self-deception

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, NYU Press

Books & works: The Omnivore's Deception

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