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Moral Vegetarianism, Part 12 of 13

Animal Ethics

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. People who do not eat meat for moral reasons tend to be less brutal than people who do eat meat. People who eat meat after reflection on the morality of eating meat are less brutal than people who eat meat without such reflection.

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On "Wild Justice"

Animal Person

" Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals ," By Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, is the most recent (for me) book that debunks myths about the differences between human and nonhuman animals. Also, Bekoff and Pierce present a descriptive view, not a normative view of morality. There are no judgments. What did Bekoff and Pierce find ?

Morals 100
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Jan Narveson on Moral Vegetarianism

Animal Ethics

For we must realize that the question is whether this justifies the eating of animals in comparison with alternatives. But it should be noted that this is only a leading premise, as it were, of a complete argument on the issue.

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Hal Herzog's "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat"

Animal Person

He is an unabashed speciesist, putting humans on “a different moral plane from that of other animals” (11) due to various reasons, such as our “vastly greater capacity for symbolic language, culture, and ethical judgment” (11). On page 172, when Herzog writes, “I am conflicted over many moral issues involving animals,” I respond, “No kidding!”

Vegan 100
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Gardner Williams (1895-1972) on Wronging Animals

Animal Ethics

Its validity is limited by other moral imperatives. And I believe that in most cases man is morally justified in thus reducing the satisfactions of the food animals. The moral issue, when a man eats lamb chops, is not: Does he gain more value than the lambs have lost by dying so young? But few people do this.

Lamb 40
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On a New Level of Absurdity in the Slaughter Business

Animal Person

But by presenting that example to the reader, the author positions herself to then present an alternative that is worlds better by comparison. They have no moral justification for taking the lives of the nonhumans other than that certain humans like the taste of their flesh but don't want to do the killing themselves. It is murder.

Slaughter 100
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Meat

Animal Ethics

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. Force, coercion, and manipulation, by comparison, are inferior on each score. Some will reduce their consumption of meat for the sake of the animals.

Meat 40