Ethical Meat Eating

Paper Summary:

The major moral principles of most religions, the natural inclination of most children, and the analysis of most philosophers agree that animals should be treated with dignity and kindness. Today, many ordinary people are torn between their traditional meat-eating habits and a growing knowledge that meat-production in the Western world is unnecessarily cruel; meat-eating is the passive slaughter of an innocent living creature through horrendous suffering. In short, this paper shows that it is increasingly becoming obvious to many that meat-eating is incompatible with their intrinsic moral values. However, many more have no compunction about contributing to the suffering of a mere animal, and no few are actually attracted to the idea that by devouring meat they eat the corpse of an animal and take in something both tribal and somehow (in this modern world) sinful. It is the contention of this paper that for those whose conscience convicts them, meat-eating is wrong, but for those to whom death and consumption feels morally compelling, it is in fact right.

From the Paper:

"So to take a human example, consider Andy Stewart who is trying to decide if he wishes to be vegetarian. He hears the thoughts of Nozick, and is afraid that Nozick may be correct -- it is empirically immoral to be a sadist and kill a cow, isn't it? He should not, however, be swayed by Nozick's personal moral beliefs that sadism is immoral, anymore than he should be inherently swayed by De Sade's theories that say sadism is inherently moral. Rather he should consider his own emotional state. He should, ideally, go to a factory farm and go to a slaughter house and see the truth of meat production for himself. If he can look a cow in the eyes, and then watch without moral compunction as it is herded up and slaughtered, then he has the moral right to eat meat - if he still can. If not, then he is not meant by his own nature to eat meat. Such moral honesty is the only morality left to a truly relativist world."

More papers on Ethical Meat Eating:

• Analytical Essay # 123241 : "Peter Singer and Meat"
• Persuasive Essay # 149233 : "The Ethics of Raising Animals for Food"
• Essay # 31062 : "The Ethics of Vegetarianism"

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