Abstract
What constitutes harm and benefit for animals? How can we evaluate what is the nature of animal well-being? ‘The harms of suffering, confinement, and death’ provides an account of the major ways in which animals may feel harm: by being caused to suffer, by being confined, or by being put to death painlessly yet prematurely. A certain amount of suffering is a comparable harm, regardless of who the sufferer is. Animals can be harmed by confinement. But is the interest in avoiding confinement just an instance of the interest in avoiding unpleasant feelings? Or do we harm a caged animal who doesn't suffer from captivity, being accustomed to it, by eliminating opportunities for species-typical functioning?
