What is Philozoÿ?

Philozoÿ is an experimental new kind of resource for those interested in animal welfare. For instance, many who are not ready to adopt an animal-free diet may still wish to consider more humane decisions.

Focus

Our scope is the use of animals as food, primarily in the western world. There are other important issues such as animal testing and entertainment. But because this project is experimental, we are beginning with a narrower focus so we can explore it in more depth. Due to the sheer scale of animal consumption it is a natural first choice.

Why this resource

Many everyday ethical decisions are made simply by intuition. However, often one needs hard facts and figures to make the right call. We seek to provide concrete answers to questions such as, How many animals are killed for my use each month?, What percentage of these animals were raised in miserable conditions?, and so on.

Your values, our calculation

This site is based on the idea that we can't dictate to you what to value or care about. However, we can tell you the consequences of your values. For example, if you are repulsed by the practice of force-feeding, we can list how much it is used in preparing your favorite foods.

For most people there will be several metrics by which one might evaluate harms. We provide formulas for combining and weighing these considerations.

Metric

A metric is a “score” for each kind of animal food. The score could be good or bad, and can represent an amount of badness (or goodness), or a scale factor of badness. Metrics can be added, multipled, averaged, weighted, and so on. Our metrics guide will help you understand this system.

Site rules

Here are our general principles:

Civility. No personal attacks, rudeness, or threats. Conversations should be polite and respectful.
Family-friendly. No obscenity or “shock value”. Here we don't make our case with gore or horror.
No politics/religion. We share an interest in animal welfare and don't need divisions. The rest of the Internet provides that.
On-topic. Although off-topic chatter is not forbidden, it should be minimal, and will be stopped if disruptive.
No spam or advertising. You can say who you are and what you do but should not use our site for promotion.
Disclaimers. We are not a legal, medical, or health resource. Read at your own risk.
Free and free. Our content is free of charge and free to use.
Common sense. Usual implicit rules of “netiquette” apply.