Animal Ethics, Morals and Vegetarian

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 1 of 13

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 9, 2009

A third of a century ago, when the modern animal-liberation movement was in its infancy, Martin published an essay entitled “A Critique of Moral Vegetarianism,” Reason Papers (fall 1976): 13-43. I suspect that many readers of this blog are Christians but not vegetarians. Philosophy is about reasons, not causes.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Meat Vegan

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 13 of 13

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 6, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. CONCLUSION There is no doubt that moral vegetarianism will continue to be a position that attracts people concerned with the plight of animals and with humanitarian goals. One final point.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Protest Protesting

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 12 of 13

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. Conversely, vegetarianism, it is argued, tends to humanize people. Similarly, there is no logical connection between eating meat and being insensitive to the inhumane treatment of animals or humans.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Inhumane Meat

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Moral Vegetarianism, Part 5 of 13

Animal Ethics

MARCH 27, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. ARGUMENTS FOR MORAL VEGETARIANISM A variety of arguments have been given for vegetarianism. Sometimes they take such a sketchy form that it is not completely clear they are moral arguments.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Monkeys Meat

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 4 of 13

Animal Ethics

MARCH 8, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. What Is an Animal Part? The last example suggests the difficulty of making a clear distinction between an animal part and an animal product. The above problems and questions should give vegetarians some pause.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Suffering Vegan

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 6 of 13

Animal Ethics

APRIL 16, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Glass-Walled Slaughter Houses Mel Morse, former president of the Humane Society of the United States, once remarked: “If every one of our slaughter houses were constructed of glass this would be a nation of vegetarians.”

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Humane Society Of The United States Slaughter

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 9 of 13

Animal Ethics

JULY 7, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Animal Rights A stronger argument is made by people who maintain that animals have rights. In particular, it has been argued that animals have a right to life. Only moral agents have autonomy rights.

Morals

Morals Vegetarian Suffering Killing

Moral Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 12, 2007

If you'd like to read Andrew Tardiff's 1996 essay "Simplifying the Case for Vegetarianism," write to me (by clicking "Contact" in the sidebar) and I'll send a copy. The essay is fabulous.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals

Jan Narveson on Moral Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

JUNE 17, 2008

And there are two relevant kinds of alternatives here: one is treating the animals better before we eat them, the only disadvantage of which is that it would make meat considerably more expensive. And the other is taking up vegetarianism. But what about the vegetarian alternative?

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Vegetarian Cooking Slaughter

Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 2, 2009

This man argues that vegetarianism is immoral. on the principle that animals are morally equivalent to humans." Vegetarianism is based on the principle that animals matter, morally. It says nothing about whether animals are "morally equivalent" to humans (whatever that means).

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Humane Animal

Philip E. Devine on Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009

There are two approaches a vegetarian might take in arguing that rearing and killing animals for food is morally offensive. He might argue that eating animals is morally bad because of the pain inflicted on animals in rearing and killing them to be eaten. Or he could object to the killing itself.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Meat Morals Cows

Belgian City of Ghent Goes Vegetarian!

Animal Ethics

JULY 24, 2009

According to this BBC story, city officials in Ghent, Belgium, are encouraging all residents to go vegetarian one day a week. As a result, the main menu in restaurants on Thursdays will be vegetarian. Starting in September, schools will serve vegetarian meals to schoolchildren on Thursdays as well.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Belgium Morals Adoptable

Philip E. Devine on the Vegetarian's Dilemma

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2010

Either the vegetarian argues on utilitarian premises, or he tries to supplement or replace his utilitarianism with some plausible non-utilitarian principles implying the wrongfulness of rearing and killing animals for food. Either the vegetarian argues on utilitarian grounds or the vegetarian argues on nonutilitarian grounds.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Hamburgers Morals Meat

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Beefy Morals

Animal Ethics

APRIL 10, 2009

A nice moral bond of union, truly, between colonies and motherland! Salt , The Logic of Vegetarianism: Essays and Dialogues [London: The Ideal Publishing Union, 1899], 81) What is likely to be the effect on the national character of such swinish gorging? Good living," unfortunately, is a somewhat equivocal term.

Morals

Morals Paraguay Vegetarian Meat

Michael Fox on Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2008

There is no doubt a good deal of truth in this last point as well, and we are here presented with a serious moral problem concerning the world food supply. But even this fails to establish a case for vegetarianism. Michael Fox , "'Animal Liberation': A Critique," Ethics 88 [January 1978]: 106-18, at 116-7)

Fox

Fox Vegetarian Factory Farming Factory Farm

J. J. C. Smart on the Moral Elite

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 28, 2010

Let us think of the more moral members of society as a moral elite, much as the generality of scientists form a scientific elite. I hope I do not need to stress that such a moral elite must not be confused with a social or intellectual elite. I am myself not so heroic. I eat eggs though they may come from battery hens.

Morals

Morals Whales Whaling Chickens

From the Mailbag

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 15, 2007

Hi Keith, I'm writing to request a copy of Andrew Tardiff's essay "Simplifying the Case for Vegetarianism." I've been an ethical vegan for 12 years; for me it was a straightforward transition. Once I put two and two together and realized where my food came from and the moral inconsistency of it all there was no turning back.

Factory Farm

Factory Farm Factory Farming Vegan Animal Ethics

Earth Day Lecture

Animal Ethics

APRIL 18, 2007

Since a number of "Animal Ethics" readers reside in the northern Illinois area, I thought I would call your attention to an exciting lecture that is taking place on Northern Illinois University's campus. She specializes in Environmental Ethics, Human-Animal Ethics, and Moral Psychology. Jenni, Ph.D.

Illinois

Illinois Animal Ethics Ethics Animal Welfare

Introducing Myself

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 18, 2006

Currently, I am very interested in social and political philosophy and ethical issues. I felt a strong sense of connection to the ideas of Peter Singer while taking Ethics from Keith. Currently, I do not believe that killing an animal is prima facie morally wrong.

Factory Farming

Factory Farming Factory Farm Morals Factory

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Moral Blindness

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 31, 2009

The only real cure for the evil is the growing sense that the lower animals are closely akin to us, and have Rights. Salt , The Logic of Vegetarianism: Essays and Dialogues [London: The Ideal Publishing Union, 1899], 109-10 [italics in original])

Morals

Morals Vegetarian Non Human Cruelty

Baseball

Animal Ethics

APRIL 26, 2008

Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers is a moral vegetarian.

Milwaukee

Milwaukee Vegetarian Morals

Peter Singer on the Wrongness of Killing Animals

Animal Ethics

JUNE 3, 2008

There I argued that the interests of animals ought to be considered equally with our own interests and that from this equality it follows that we ought to become vegetarian.

Killing

Killing Animal Liberation Vegetarian Animal

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Consistency

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

which may be called the Consistency Trick—akin to that known in common parlance as the tu quoque or "you're another"—the device of setting up an arbitrary standard of "consistency," and then demonstrating that the Vegetarian himself, judged by that standard, is as "inconsistent" as other persons.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Chickens Lamb

R. G. Frey on the Principle of the Equal Consideration of Interests

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 7, 2008

According to Singer , the principle of the equal consideration of interests 'requires us to be vegetarians'. This is a moral principle, and states that 'the interests of every being affected by an action are to be taken into account and given the same weight as the like interests of any other being'.

Factory Farming

Factory Farming Factory Farm Factory Slaughter

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on "Humane Slaughter"

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 17, 2008

The plea that animals might be killed painlessly is a very common one with flesh-eaters, but it must be pointed out that what-might-be can afford no exemption from moral responsibility for what-is. Salt , The Logic of Vegetarianism: Essays and Dialogues [London: The Ideal Publishing Union, 1899], 51-2 [italics in original])

Slaughter

Slaughter Slaughtered Humane Vegetarian

Julian H. Franklin on Animal Rights

Animal Ethics

MARCH 5, 2007

Indeed, the ability of intelligent and educated people to avoid confronting the issue, or to offer endless evasions and rationalizations of delay on a question as straightforward as vegetarianism, even when they have heard and (reluctantly) accepted the argument in favor, is astonishing as well as depressing.

Animal Rights

Animal Rights Rights Animal Morals

R. G. Frey on Animal Rights

Animal Ethics

MAY 14, 2008

The question of whether animals possess rights is once again topical, largely as a result of the recent surge of interest in animal welfare and in the moral pros and cons of eating animals and using them in scientific research. Arguments to show that animals do have rights, therefore, are at a premium. (

Animal Rights

Animal Rights Rights Animal Animal Welfare

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on the Wastefulness of Meat-Eating

Animal Ethics

MAY 24, 2009

For pastoralism belongs rightly to another and earlier phase of the world's economics, and as civilisation spreads it becomes more and more an anachronism, as surely as flesh-eating, by a corresponding change, becomes an anachronism in morals.

Meat

Meat Vegetarian Morals Cattle

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on the Fallacious Appeal to Nature

Animal Ethics

MAY 21, 2008

Of the many dense prejudices through which, as through a snow-drift, Vegetarianism has to plough its way before it can emerge into the field of free discussion, there is none perhaps more inveterate than the common appeal to "Nature."

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Boston Fish Slaughter

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Sophistry

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 22, 2009

We may grant that so long as no scruple has arisen concerning the morality of flesh-eating, or any other barbarous usage, such practices may be carried on in innocence and good faith, and therefore without personal demoralisation to those who indulge in them.

Lamb

Lamb Vegetarian Morals

Meat

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 14, 2009

The best thing that one can do for animals, in the long run, is to persuade people to stop eating them. Of all the ways of influencing behavior, rational persuasion is the most effective, the most secure (in the sense of long-lasting), and the most defensible from a moral point of view. Others will do so for health reasons.

Meat

Meat Animal Welfare Vegetarian Protecting Animals

From Today's Wall Street Journal

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 6, 2009

My interactions with farm animals have been as affectionate and fun as any I've had with dogs or cats. In the name of moral consistency I became a vegetarian four years ago. Why was a dog more worthy of not being dinner than a pig? The peace of mind—and the weight I've lost—have been well worth the effort.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles San Francisco Factory Farming Factory Farm

Make This the Year You Do Right by Animals

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 2, 2008

Now that 2008 has arrived, I'd like once again to encourage new and old readers alike to make this the year that they stop supporting animal cruelty in all of its forms. If you currently eat meat, make a commitment to reduce your consumption of animals in January and stop eating them altogether in February.

Animal Cruelty

Animal Cruelty Rights Fur Vegan

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 11 of 13

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Human Grain Shortage All of the clearly moral arguments for vegetarianism given so far have been in terms of animal rights and suffering. The next assumption is no less dubious.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Meat Cattle

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 8 of 13

Animal Ethics

JUNE 4, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. In fact, animals used for food do suffer a great deal. Becoming a vegetarian is not merely a symbolic gesture. First, it is dubious that becoming a vegetarian would have much effect on present practice. milk production.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Protest Protesting

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 7 of 13

Animal Ethics

MAY 6, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. The Argument from Speciesism If there is some doubt whether the arguments from monkeys and from glass walls should be considered moral arguments, there can be no doubt about the moral import of the argument from speciesism.

Morals

Morals Vegetarian Speciesism Killing

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 2 of 13

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 21, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. SOME PROBLEMS OF MORAL VEGETARIANISM With respect to traditional moral vegetarianism some problems immediately come to the fore. Who exactly is not supposed to eat animals or products of animals?

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Meat Lions

Meat, Cancer, and the Cumulative Case for Ethical Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2008

Ethical vegetarianism is the thesis that killing and eating animals is morally wrong whenever equally nutritious plant-based alternatives are available. The case for ethical vegetarianism starts with several uncontroversial premises. It is not just a few outspoken animal rights fanatics who hold this view.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Lacto-Ovo Meat Ethics

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 10 of 13

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 21, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. Suppose that tomorrow a group of beings from another planet were to land on Earth, beings who considered themselves as superior to you as you feel yourself to be to other animals. Tags: Moral Vegetarianism.

Morals

Morals Vegetarian Killing Meat

Vegetarianism and IQ

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 15, 2006

According to this study published today in the British Journal of Medicine , "Higher IQ at age 10 years was associated with an increased likelihood of being vegetarian at age 30." The study itself doesn't explain why individuals with higher IQs are more likely to be vegetarians as adults, but Catharine L.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Factory Farming Factory Farm Morals

Reasons Consistently Applied

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

I suspect that many regular readers of Animal Ethics are already vegetarians. That's because those who read Animal Ethics with regularity know that there are many compelling reasons to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. a vegetarian diet is associated with a lower risk of death from ischemic heart disease.

Lacto-Ovo

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Vegan Veal

From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

To the Editor: Re “ Animal, Vegetable, Miserable ,” by Gary Steiner (Op-Ed, Nov. 22): Mr. Steiner might feel less lonely as an ethical vegan—he says he has just five vegan friends—if he recognized that he has allies in mere vegetarians (like me), ethical omnivores and even carnivores. Lerner Woodside, Calif.,

New York Times

New York Times New York Vegan Vegetarian

His Beef with Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 21, 2007

The author, Daniel Lazare, is hostile to vegetarianism. Why is it that so many progressives think it's silly to accord moral status to animals? Then again, progressives think abortion is merely a medical procedure, devoid of moral significance.

Vegetarian

Vegetarian Morals Medical Humane

R. G. Frey on Feeling and Principle

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

In other words, we become vegetarians, not through any decision of principle, but through being unable to bring ourselves to continue to dine upon the flesh of animals. What the vegetarian wants, surely, is that we should stop eating meat even if our liking for it exceeds our revulsion at the suffering endured on factory farms.

Factory Farming

Factory Farming Factory Farm Vegetarian Meat

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 1 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 13 of 13

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Moral Vegetarianism, Part 12 of 13

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Moral Vegetarianism, Part 5 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 4 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 6 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 9 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism

Jan Narveson on Moral Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism

Philip E. Devine on Vegetarianism

Belgian City of Ghent Goes Vegetarian!

Philip E. Devine on the Vegetarian's Dilemma

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Beefy Morals

Michael Fox on Vegetarianism

J. J. C. Smart on the Moral Elite

From the Mailbag

Earth Day Lecture

Introducing Myself

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Moral Blindness

Baseball

Peter Singer on the Wrongness of Killing Animals

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Consistency

R. G. Frey on the Principle of the Equal Consideration of Interests

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on "Humane Slaughter"

Julian H. Franklin on Animal Rights

R. G. Frey on Animal Rights

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on the Wastefulness of Meat-Eating

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on the Fallacious Appeal to Nature

Henry S. Salt (1851-1939) on Sophistry

Meat

From Today's Wall Street Journal

Make This the Year You Do Right by Animals

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 11 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 8 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 7 of 13

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 2 of 13

Meat, Cancer, and the Cumulative Case for Ethical Vegetarianism

Moral Vegetarianism, Part 10 of 13

Vegetarianism and IQ

Reasons Consistently Applied

From Today's New York Times

His Beef with Vegetarianism

R. G. Frey on Feeling and Principle

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