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KaliYugaz  ·  3453 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Earthlings documentary - has anyone dared to watch it?

Well, if a family derives pleasure from dog meat, then that would be utility. Under classical utilitarianism, if the pleasure of that family outweighs the harm done to the dog, then it would be ok, though no utilitarians today actually believe in this naive formulation of utilitarianism, due to problems that should be obvious.

Under negative utilitarianism, which shifts the focus to reducing suffering rather than increasing pleasure, there wouldn't be sufficient grounds for subjecting a dog to the dog meat industry unless the industry caused negligible harm to the dogs. Harming dogs would be permissible, however, if it prevented greater harm to other humans and animals (like with medical research).

    As for being "treated humanely" what does that mean? Is it ok to kill someone if we treat them well while they are alive?

No, because I, like most people, happen to believe that we have extra duties towards humans that transcend the basic utilitarian framework.