The Ethics Of Meat-Eating

Bost’s reason for going back to meat eating was because he found a more ethical and humane way for an animal to be put down, rather then killing them in a packed area. Bost's essay makes its arguments without referring to religion. Yet for many vegetarians and meat-eaters, one's diet and its ethical implications is based on religious law, or one's spirituality. In fact, some of the most ardent defenders of meat-eating

In his article "Vegetarianism and the Other Weight Problem", James Rachels argues that meat eating is immoral and it is a moral duty to be vegetarian. In order to discuss the problems and come up with his conclusions, Rachels considers two arguments for vegetarianism.

The idea of abstaining from meat has been around for a long period of time. According to Claus Leitzmann from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition it has been around since the sixth century B.C. and originated from the Orphic mysteries followers. A greek philosopher by the name of Pythagorean, and other influential persons promoted ethical vegetarianism until the 19th century. After that it begin to fade away until it was reintroduced during the Renaissance Era and the Age of Enlightenment. When people were informed of the benefits of becoming a vegetarian or vegan, a person that does not consume or use

God gave man dominion over the land and the animals so that he could take care of them and prosper with them Genesis 1:24-31. Since the human race was created in God's image, humans should exercise that dominion with wisdom and mercy like God does upon man. Yet man has perverted this duty by taking too much from the land and animals, and not fulfilling the original contract to take care of them. This has become evident in factory farming because man is mistreating the animals in order to produce the cheapest and most productive system for vast amounts of meat no matter the moral standing to animals and the land. This has to be changed to keep the contract intact, which Peter Singer and Jim Mason are trying to do in The Ethics of Eating

Can it be morally permissible to eat meat when plant-based foods are available? In this paper my aim is it to explain why this is morally wrong to do. One problem with eating meat is humans are putting animals in unnecessary pain. Another problem is that the majority of our environmental destruction on our planet is due to agriculture. Philosophers Peter Singer and Tom Regan, both back up this view with their own arguments.

As different crazes and fads are appearing each day, we have come to expect them to simply fade away as the hype passes. However, veganism has stood the test of time in our fad society and is still increasing in popularity. Originally only thought to be a religious lifestyle, many people from different walks of life are becoming vegans. However, this poses many questions and sparks heated debates, mainly from omnivorous people who believe that veganism is against life’s natural order. Vegans, then, argue against an omnivorous lifestyle by bringing up facts about humans’ biological makeup and how humans are, contrary to popular belief, herbivorous by nature, not omnivorous. While both sides present good arguments to some, the veganism lifestyle contains more benefits and less harmful cons than an omnivorous lifestyle.

Meat has been a staple food in the diet of mankind since the early ages of civilization. In the article “Is Any Meat Good to Eat?” by Sarah Boesveld, she interviews author Jonathan Safran to share his opinion on eating meat and factory farming. He believes that “...if [people] just ate according to the values they already have, then factory farming would disappear.” Whether or not people realize the sources from which meat in modern day society comes from, they cannot deny the fact that meat is delectable. Sadly, many people who are aware of where their meat comes from will argue that it is unethical to eat meat that is grown purely to satisfy the hunger of people. The ethics of eating meat should not be considered because of the extreme

Years ago it would have been unheard of for anyone to not eat meat on a daily basis, since during one period of time it was considered a staple for some. However, meat eaters started to pay attention to what they were consuming once Upton Sinclair’s famous novel The Jungle was published in the early 1930’s. It drew so much attention that the Pure Food and Drug Act passed to prevent the unsanitary and hazardous practices mentioned in The Jungle from happening. However, before Upton Sinclair’s novel was published few were already recognizing the ethical and nutritional (in this time period) hazards that happened because of the commercial meat industry. The International Vegetarian Union was established in 1908 and was one of the first

What is the ideal doneness of a burger? Some may claim that well-done is the best, others may like medium-rare. While this is one of the most common questions asked in regards to meat-eating, there is an even more important one that everyone should be asking. What are the ethical implications of eating meat? This oft-debated question has been obscured, especially in recent years, by the outcry for the humane treatment of animals being raised for food. There have been many recent documentaries, books, and debates about how these animals sometimes never see sunlight before they are slaughtered, among many other abusive treatments. In his essay, “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable,” Gary Steiner raises this issue of the morality of meat-eating and challenges the readers to question their own views on this topic. Regardless of the morality of eating meat or using animal products, Steiner does not support his claim strongly enough to be accepted.

The destruction of the environment around oneself can take a toll on their spirituality and purity. There is immense damage caused by energy production and wasteful consumerism. One of the largest yet least known contributors to global warming and environmental destruction generally is eating meat. The basic problem is meat is higher on the food chain when compared to plants. Therefore, more resources are required to produce nutrition in the form of meat. In the past this was not an issue because animals typically ate things that were not food for humans, like grass. However in today’s world, most food animals live on grains and other resource-intensive products (Sujato, n.d.). This means that meat requires more energy, water, space, and all other resources than plants. In addition to the burden on the environment, this creates a range of localized problems. Things that stem from the use of fertilizers, the disposal of vast amounts of animal waste, etc. are all contributors to the destruction of the environment. So, as compared with the past, eating meat involves far more cruelty. It brings harm to innocent animals, creates disease, and damages the environment. If one were to approach this question as one of weights and balances, they would quickly see the scales have tipped drastically to the side of not eating

As humanity becomes more civilized, many of us perceive that eating livestock is morally incorrect, but aren’t we are designed to be an omnivore? Our teeth and digestive system serve the purpose of breaking down animal and plant foods and to bring these important nutrients to every part of the body. Despite the fact that, in 2011, U.S. meat and poultry production reached more than 92.3 billion pounds, the ethic of killing and eating animals as well as the concern of the environmental burden caused by the production of meats is debatable. However, animal based diet is necessary for the human body to function properly and we can choose the meat produced from environmentally sustainable farms to avoid the moral ambiguity.

Intentionally avoiding flesh eating first came into place as a part of rituals for short-lived purification. Evidence of vegetarianism has been found during different times and places all over the world. The teaching of Pythagoras of Samos, a philosopher, in the fifth century BC is the first recorded teaching of avoiding flesh eating in the Mediterranean. He taught that kinship of all animals is a base of goodwill towards each other (“Vegetarianism”). Vegetarianism has been around since the sixth century BC in Greece and Italy; their biggest motive was to avoid harming animals (“Vegetarian Verve”). In Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth century CE, the greater significance of humanitarianism and moral progress, and the return of animal awareness allowed vegetarianism to expand and gain attention (“Vegetarianism”). By the 1830’s, the term “vegetarian” was already being used in the United States. However, it was not popularized until

As we can now observe, vegetarianism has become something fashionable, and the number of people who reject eating meat is constantly increasing. In Britain, for instance, over 5 million people have done it so far. It is obviously connected with the recent animal diseases, but this tendency is likely to spread on the other regions of the world. However, it is not only a fashion or fear of illnesses. I myself became a vegetarian about 2 years ago, and I can see a number of reasons why people should stop eating meat. They are mainly of ethic, economic and health type. Those who think in an ecological way should also be aware of how this meat consumption ruins our environment. I don’t have an intention

There are two main lifestyles that we as human beings practice that impact our eating habits. One being a Vegetarian, a person who chooses not to eat meat. The other being a Meat Eater (also known as an Omnivore), a person who chooses to eat both meat and vegetables. A controversial debate continues to go on, evaluating the pros and cons of each group, along with the reasons behind their choice. In the end it all depends on the individual’s outlook on life that makes the decision.

When any organism is still an infant, they fail to acknowledge societal norms and decision-making, but instead, only their genetic makeup dictates their actions. Therefore, many conclusions involving inherent responses are drawn from experiments involving infants. For example, both a human baby and a lion cub possess an innate sense of hunger, which drives them to seek out nutrition in order to survive. When a hungry baby is placed in a crib with both a banana and a small rabbit (two sources of food), it immediately responds by reaching for the banana to satiate this hunger sensation. Whereas, if the lion cub, or any other animal designed to eat meat faces this situation, say sayonara to the rabbit. This example, used by many vegetarian advocates, illustrates that at the core of our species, we are designed to operate under a plant-based diet. Of course, over the span of millions of years, humans adapted to cater to changing environments, thus allowing for heavier protein diets. Still, we are foundationally designed to eat more like vegetarians, with meat as a complement to this plant-based diet. In recent centuries, the reliance on meat as the main substance of our diets has surfaced. This “protein phenomenon” causes many physiological issues in the human body due to the inability to process this amount of meat. Based on evolutionary evidence, humans were intended to execute a strictly plant based diet, but evolved over millions of years to allow for meat consumption.