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. You will, therefore, agree with Martin about moral vegetarianism but not about Christianity. Another reason is moral. Mine is not.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Morals Meat Vegan 40

Animal Person

FEBRUARY 6, 2010

If you eat meat you cannot logically find it morally or ethically repugnant to eat a particular meat (I’m setting cannibalism aside here.). Do they suffer any more or less in death? If sentience and suffering and "the mysterious unity of life" are really your concerns, you aren't going be eating any body.

Pigs 100

Pigs Ethics Suffering Meat 100

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2008

There is a difficulty about drawing from all this a moral for ourselves. But then we can say this because we can say that all those are bad moralities, whereas we cannot look at our own moralities and declare them bad. It is natural to feel sympathy for animals who are suffering. This is bad faith.

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Morals Factory Farm Factory Farming Neglecting 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

For an explanation of this feature, click on “Moral Vegetarianism” at the bottom of this post. What Meat Should Not Be Eaten? What is forbidden meat? Most moral vegetarians list fish and fowl as animals one should not eat. We do not need meat, let alone pork, in order to live. But what about microorganisms?

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Morals Vegetarian Meat Killing 40

Animal Person

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

Do they suffer any more or less in death? If you eat meat you cannot logically find it morally or ethically repugnant to eat a particular meat (I’m setting cannibalism aside here.). Are they any more or less sentient? Are they any more or less part of the mysterious unity of life? I think not.

Pigs 100

Pigs Dogs Meat Ethics 100

Animal Ethics

JUNE 17, 2011

It is asking the burger-stuffer to come clean ; to show just why it is that his greed should be indulged in this way, and just where he fits into the scheme of things, that he can presume to kill again and again for the sake of a solitary pleasure that creates and sustains no moral ties.

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Meat Vegetarian Battery Fast Food 40

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. Virtually everyone agrees that: (1) It is wrong to cause a conscious sentient animal to suffer for no good reason. Animal abuse is a crime in all fifty states, and rightly so.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Meat Ethics Lacto-Ovo 40

Animal Person

AUGUST 16, 2011

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!”

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Vegan Morals Animal Rights Advocacy 100

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

Indeed, our feeling of revulsion may be so intense that we simply can no longer bring ourselves to eat meat. 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.

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Factory Farm Factory Farming Vegetarian Meat 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 7, 2008

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'. This, however, is precisely what factory farming does.

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Factory Farm Factory Farming Factory Slaughter 40

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.

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Vegetarian Meat Morals Cows 40

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. Henry S.

Meat 40

Meat Vegetarian Morals Cattle 40

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

This passage puzzles me: Unsurprisingly, I believe it is wrong to inflict pain and death unnecessarily on a creature capable of suffering. Peter Singer more broadly examines the moral standing of animals here.) Is meat-eating necessary? Why does this belief not "compel us to be vegetarians"?

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Vegetarian New York Times Pigs Morals 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2011

He has volunteered to kill a deer cruelly, ineptly and with an outdated weapon that causes additional suffering to the deer. He says he hunts out of a need to take responsibility for his family, who evidently live where the supermarkets offer no meat. He says meat tastes more precious when you’ve watched it die.

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New York Times New York Mountain Lions Deer 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

The meat industry loves to squeal that “the cost of bacon will rise” whenever it’s faced with pressure to change. 20, 2012 To the Editor: Blake Hurst asserts that “production methods should not cause needless suffering,” but the position he takes does just that. That sounds like a win-win to us. SUZANNE McMILLAN Dir.,

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New York Times New York Gestation Crates Gestation 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 23, 2006

He thinks that the treatment of animals in factory farms is morally unjustifiable, and yet, he continues to support those practices financially by purchasing and eating meat and animal products. It goes something like this: Yes, I agree that factory farming is morally unjustifiable and ought to be abolished.

Factory Farm 40

Factory Farm Factory Farming Morals Meat 40

Animal Person

OCTOBER 26, 2009

There's not enough evidence for an accusation of moral relativism, but for me the message is a mixed one. And what follows, as you might imagine, is his support of "ethical meat" (for those who insist on eating animals). You never have to wonder if the fish on your plate had to suffer. N]o fish gets a good death. It did" (193).

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Animal Vegan 100

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

If the goal is not moral perfection for ourselves, but the maximum benefit for animals, half-measures ought to be encouraged and appreciated. Go vegan, go vegetarian, go humane or just eat less meat. Mr. Steiner rightly rejects this view as morally flawed. Suffering and injustice are inherent in life, and time is short.

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New York Times New York Vegan Vegetarian 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2006

Consequently, no turkey has suffered or died on my account for the past quarter century. They can't solve the problem of animal suffering all by themselves, so they throw up their hands in defeat and go on eating meat. That's what moral integrity—being an integrated person rather than a fragmented one—is all about.

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Turkey Suffering Morals Animal Suffering 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 15, 2006

As such, they are likely to be better moral reasoners , as well, both in their ability to identify moral reasons and in their ability to appreciate these reasons. If they are like most people, they believe that a world with less unnecessary suffering is intrinsically better than a world with more unnecessary suffering.

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Factory Farm Factory Farming Morals 40

Animal Ethics

AUGUST 2, 2008

The fact that geese mate for life, and that the mate of the poor goose that was slaughtered would step forward, was enough to make me swear off meat forever, if I hadn’t already. Doesn’t he realize that he does not have to engage in this voluntary activity, which causes moral conflict for himself and suffering for the animals?

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Factory Farm Factory Farming 40

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

to live out their lives in peace, absent the abuse they had suffered in the entertainment industry. These birds can learn to pull a string to retrieve a short stick, use the stick to pull out a longer one, then use the long stick to draw out a piece of meat. Is this moral? She wanted to get into the same stall with Shirley.

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2007

Since morally decent individuals oppose treating animals inhumanely for no good reason, factory farming is becoming an increasingly hard sell. According to the HPMAJ column, "Loos told cattle producers the livestock industry must show the public that there are moral and ethical justifications for taking the life of an animal to feed a person.

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Factory Factory Farm Factory Farming Gestation Crates 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 2, 2008

If you currently eat meat, make a commitment to reduce your consumption of animals in January and stop eating them altogether in February. Switching to a vegan diet devoid of meat and animal products also almost always results in significantly lower plasma cholesterol levels.

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Rights Animal Cruelty Vegan Cruelty 40

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 7, 2009

There are moral reasons to go vegetarian: recognition that it is wrong to contribute to unnecessary animal suffering the injustice of exploiting animals and killing them for no good reason If human have rights, then many nonhuman animals also have rights, and confining and killing these animals for food violates these rights.

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Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Vegan Veal 40

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 31, 2006

Moderately to seriously overweight people who eliminate all meat and all animal products from their diets and replace those animal-based foods with plant-based foods almost always lose 10-20 pounds with no other behavioral changes. I recommend trying to accomplish sub-resolutions (a), (b), and (c) next.

2007 40

2007 Rights Animal Cruelty Cruelty 40

Animal Ethics

MAY 23, 2007

I’ll leave the question of infant care to the physicians, but I know firsthand that an adult vegan can enjoy robust physical health without contributing to the cruel suffering of animals on today’s factory farms. It’s appalling that anyone would think that a diet based on a dubious morality would build a human infant. Petersburg, Fla.,

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Vegan 2007 40