Eating Animals

Overview of Eating Animals

• Examination of the ethical aspects of eating animals usually revolves around three key concepts: animal rights, human health and the environment.
• A utilitarian approach might weigh the pleasure against the pain caused and evaluate whether the pleasures derived from consuming animals outweigh the suffering.

Animal Rights

• Central to the argument of animal rights is the belief that non-human animals possess individual rights, a natural right for freedom and that they should not be seen as property.
• Peter Singer, a utilitarian philosopher, argues that considering the interests of animals as less important than human interests, or speciesism, is as discriminatory as racism or sexism.
• He asserts that the capacity to feel pain, or sentience, should be the defining factor of moral consideration, not religious, social, or personal ideas of human superiority.

Human Health and Society

• Critics argue that eating animals is natural and necessary for optimal human health.
• They point out that humans have been omnivores and consumed meat since the dawn of time, and our bodies are adapted to this diet.
• The social significance of food and eating is another factor. In many social settings, meat-based foods have been traditionally central and significant.

Environmental Impacts

• Ethical considerations also cover the environmental consequences of farming livestock, such as the significant contributions to greenhouse gases.
• Widespread vegetarianism could make a substantial difference to greenhouse gas emissions.
• The debates about the morality of eating animals often touch on the sustainability and efficiency of meat production.

Ethical Theories on Eating Animals

• Deontologists, like Kant, would argue that humans have indirect duties towards animals; while they don’t have rights, cruelty towards animals should be avoided because it nurtures cruel behaviour in people.
• Utilitarians base their arguments around the capacity of an animal to feel pleasure or pain. They claim that excessive animal suffering for human pleasure is morally wrong.
• Virtue ethicists may argue that kindness to animals is a virtue, and excessive cruelty or disregard is a vice.

Counter Arguments and Controversies

• Some argue that a line has to be drawn somewhere in the animal kingdom and that it is arbitrary to include all animals within the sphere of moral concern.
• Some also point at the potential adverse economic effects on those who are dependent on livestock farming for their livelihood.
• It’s also contended that humans have higher cognitive abilities than animals, which grants them authorities and rights superior to those of animals.