The Immorality of Eating Animals Eating animals poses two moral questions. Is it wrong to raise and kill animals simply because humans enjoy the fleeting taste of their flesh? Do our differences from these animals justify their slaughter? The response to both of these questions is simple. Never. Many people believe that their superiority over animals is a justification to eat them. Animals have been traditionally defined as slaves and non-rational beings without moral reasoning, but these beliefs have been refuted for centuries.Even if these claims were true, these differences should encourage more, not less, moral consideration since they gather that animals cannot give or withhold their consent or …show more content…
All before suffering an unimaginable death. The current methods in which animals are farmed and slaughtered are heinous. Many animals are struggling until the very end. According to PETA, People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals, chickens are fully-conscious as they are hoisted and locked into shackles upside down on a fast moving line that leads to electrocution in order to stun them, boiling of their feathers, and eventually, the slitting of their throat. Many people overlook the very social and friendly creatures of the sea who endure this suffering as well. Fish on aquafarms spend their whole life in a crowded, filthy enclosure. They suffer from injuries, parasitic infections, and disease. All animals, such as chickens and fish, have the ability to suffer like we do. They feel pain, pleasure, love, loneliness and fear, all of which are experienced on their journey to slaughter. The questions to be asked are not, “Can animal speak?” or “Can they think?” but instead, “Can they suffer?” The ability to suffer should be a crucial consideration in the decision to kill animals. When humans decide to inflict these terrors on an animal, they are morally obligated to take the animal’s pain into account. No matter how “humane” the slaughtering or farming of animals is, it is always immoral. A growing trend in the animal farming business is to label meat “grass-fed.” These companies claim that they use humane methods of slaughter that make it easier on
As humanity becomes more civilized, many of us perceive that eating livestock is morally incorrect, but aren’t we are designed to be an omnivore? Our teeth and digestive system serve the purpose of breaking down animal and plant foods and to bring these important nutrients to every part of the body. Despite the fact that, in 2011, U.S. meat and poultry production reached more than 92.3 billion pounds, the ethic of killing and eating animals as well as the concern of the environmental burden caused by the production of meats is debatable. However, animal based diet is necessary for the human body to function properly and we can choose the meat produced from environmentally sustainable farms to avoid the moral ambiguity.
Humans do not eat other human beings because that would break down our organized society. We stay together, just as other species would, and breed. Morals and ethics are ideas that humans created cognitively. If one considered all animals to be just animals regardless of their intelligence, then the concept of morals and ethics would not exist. Despite the absurdity of meat eating ethics, there are other important reasons for meat in our diet.
According to Scruton, “Eating animals has become a test case for moral theory in Western societies,” and he believes that a moral life is set on three pillars: virtue, duty, value piety. Foer uses fishes and dogs, for example, in Eating Animals: people slam gaffs into fish, but no one in their right mind would do such a thing to a dog. Foer also mentions that fish are out there in the water doing what fish do, and dogs are with us. Dogs are our companions, and with that, we care about the things that are near and dear to us. In, “Consider the Lobster,” Wallace asks, “Is it all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for our gustatory pleasure?” Is it a personal choice to do so? PETA, of course, says no. Dick from the Maine Lobster Festival (MLF) argues that lobsters do not have the part of the brain that receives pain, which is a false statement anyhow. Goodrich (1969) says that a human’s life is worth so much more than an animal’s life. No matter how many animals there are, one human life is worth more.
The matters pertaining the animal rights and their suffering for the sake of harvesting their flesh have been an issue with a variety of perspectives. Puppies, Pigs and People, a piece by Alastair Norcross, bring to question the treatment towards livestock and what is immoral about the process. The argument proclaims that since we (humans) do not require meat as part of our diet then the exploit of raising animals for consumption (humanly or not) is immoral. On a counter side of the argument, a philosopher, Carl Cohen, states in his work that animals possess no moral rights thus we have the option to eat them despite if it is immoral or not. In the case of who I believe offers the most optimum solution, I believe Cohen is the most accurate in his summation of animal’s roles in our world. I will argue that people have no obligation to abstain from eating animals, but morally speaking animals should be kept in humane living conditions in order for it to meet our obligations towards these creatures.
Many people who think that the way that we treat animals in the process of raising those for human consumption are wrong never stop, to think what they can do to stop this problem from further occurring. Furthermore, they make impassioned calls for more “humanely” raised meat. Instead to soothe their consciences they shop for “free range” meat, and eggs; which has no importance. Even if an animal is raised ‘free range” it still lives s life of pain and suffering that all ends with a butcher’s knife. Although many know that over 53 billion land animals are slaughtered each year for human utilization they still tend to eat this meat with no problem. The simple explanation is that many don’t care what happens to animals as long as they are eating and healthy. If they did care then they would what could be a difficult choice; to go without eating meat and selling it in any form.
Jonathan Safran, a vegetarian, states that, in his Juvenalian article “A Case for Eating Dog” the human race should be condemned for eating an animal’s meat, for it is a moral taboo to do so. Safran argues that eating any animal, be it a cow, or a dog, is something to take ignominy in. The author, Jonathan Safran, uses the satirical device of travesty to create a serious, firm atmosphere, which conveys that eating animals is a shameful practice. Safran argues that while, yes, a large number of dogs-and other animals for that matter- are wasted every year, it doesn’t give us permission to eat animals every bit as smart as animals we do eat. It is stated that “pigs are just as smart as dogs”, but we still eat them (Safran PPG 5).
As humans, we make decisions based on our comfort levels, choosing one thing over another. We prefer to not think about the way animals are killed or tortured, just to eat and enjoy them. We prefer to believe lobsters don't feel pain, and ignore how they cling to containers’ sides as they are being boiled alive. We prefer to choose our lobsters and watch them die, as opposed to choosing our cows and watch them be slaughtered. We choose which creatures to empathize with, and which to neglect. Wallace admits he cant justify these preferences we all have without sounding selfish towards the end of the essay. According to David Wallace, “the whole animal-cruelty-and-eating issue is not just complex, it is also uncomfortable.” This paper presents the moral complications of animal cruelty and the unclarity of it
The suffering of animals is not important to gourmets what ethical convictions do they evolve that allows them to enjoy and savor flesh-based
The consumption of meat over recent decades has become more than just a means of nutrition for the body, but also a game of hunting animals for recreation and sport. Along with the popularization of hunting animals for sport came the early endangerment and extinction of certain species. With this hobby the question arose, is it ethical to hunt and or eat meat? After reading “Consider the Lobster” written by David Foster Wallace, a person may consider the history any meat goes through before it is ready for consumption. However, the consumption of meat is seen as a normal thing to do on a daily basis, especially in America because our meals are typically centered around the meat being the main item of the meal. After reading “Ethics and the
In the last few pages of the document, Singer discusses the differences between humans and animals when it comes to consuming food. While some make the argument that animals eat meat and so should we, Singer states that humans have higher moral reasoning so are able to move pass such base thinking. Moreover, since the way that humans consume meat typically is rather cruel to animals. Much crueler then animals treat each other. Singer discusses the lives of farm animals, who are essentially bred to be slaughtered, given very poor lives, and live in constant fear.
Humans have the same right to eat any animal we want just like how lions have the right to eat any animal they want it’s a natural thing that every omnivore and carnivore has. Just like lions humans naturally need to eat meat because people that don’t eat meat they have to take a supplement. The best way for humans to eat meat is through mass farming plus the animals that are born into this don’t know different nor what they are missing out on, and they are probably not even thinking what it would be like to be in a field. If a lion gets to kill an antelope then I get to eat a nice steak from any place I want because we both have the same right of eating
Eating is a necessary commodity. Every living being has to eat in order to stay alive. In fact you can only survive about 3 weeks without eating. Many animals don’t receive backlash for the food they eat because, even us, human beings understand that it’s necessary to obtain proteins. However, the Big, Bad Wolf will always be unfairly criticized for eating pigs. Even though society views the wolf as malicious, that is very far from the truth as proven in sources B, C, and H because the wolf deserves to eat food as much as the pigs do.
An intense, aggressive moral scrutiny has sparked interest in the meat eating community. Eating is an activity that we as humans do frequently, and the variety of food is immense. We decide what we are about to eat and how it will affect our bodies. In different societies, controversy has arisen over the morality of eating meat from animals. However, the moral and ethical arguments of eating meat is not a new debate. Roger Scruton’s essay, “A Carnivore’s Credo”, addresses both carnivores and vegetarians by using an appeal to pathos and ethos to persuade people of the need to “remoralize” eating meat, and extrapolating that to mean that human beings have the conscious ability to choose and stand up for moral right and wrong.
Is the killing of animals wrong? This is an issue that is currently being argued. In the world there are people who kill animals to eat them while there are others that feel that it is inhumane to kill defenseless animals. There are many factors over which animals are killed. For example, animals that are suffering due to an illness, animals that have shown to be dangerous around us, for food, and to maintain the animal’s population balanced. Some people have argued that killing animals for food is not the only way to feed ourselves, since we produce vegetation. These people think that animals should have the same rights as humans. People feel this way because they feel that animals feel everything that we feel, such as pain, loss,
What is the ideal doneness of a burger? Some may claim that well-done is the best, others may like medium-rare. While this is one of the most common questions asked in regards to meat-eating, there is an even more important one that everyone should be asking. What are the ethical implications of eating meat? This oft-debated question has been obscured, especially in recent years, by the outcry for the humane treatment of animals being raised for food. There have been many recent documentaries, books, and debates about how these animals sometimes never see sunlight before they are slaughtered, among many other abusive treatments. In his essay, “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable,” Gary Steiner raises this issue of the morality of meat-eating and challenges the readers to question their own views on this topic. Regardless of the morality of eating meat or using animal products, Steiner does not support his claim strongly enough to be accepted.