2014-07-14
Explanation
The Joke
Two whales are swimming in the ocean near a whaling ship. One whale has been harpooned and is bleeding (indicated by red in the water and a harpoon line connected to the ship). One whale says to the other: "It's okay, Hank. I just read that the goal of ethics is to maximize human flourishing."
The Humor
The comic takes the philosophical concept that ethics exists to "maximize human flourishing" -- a common formulation in utilitarian and humanist moral philosophy -- and presents it from the perspective of non-human animals being killed by humans. From the whale's point of view, if the entire purpose of ethics is to promote human well-being, then there is no ethical problem with whaling at all -- it is just humans flourishing at the whales' expense. The dark irony is that the whale is trying to comfort its dying friend by citing a moral framework that explicitly excludes them from moral consideration. The comic is a pointed critique of anthropocentric ethics, highlighting how a moral system built solely around human flourishing conveniently justifies any amount of harm to other species.
References
The phrase "maximize human flourishing" echoes utilitarian ethics (particularly the work of John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham) as well as Aristotelian eudaimonia, though it is used here to critique the anthropocentric framing common in many ethical traditions. The comic also implicitly references ongoing debates about animal rights and the ethics of whaling.